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The Smell of a Rainbow

Dawn Goldworm

A scented and shaped board book with seven exclusive scents by one of the world's most sought-after fragrance designers

Did you know that almost everyone associates the same colors and feelings with certain smells? Dawn Goldworm has spent her career studying just that. She is one of the world's best designers of fragrance, and now she is bringing her expert nose to this scented board book. Just rub your finger along each page, and enjoy the smell of color! Dawn has created seven exclusive fragrances to evoke the stripes of the rainbow--a new, fun, and surprising way to learn about the colors.

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Baby Shark: Baby Shark Feels Happy

Pinkfong

From the underwater world of Baby Shark comes this adorable board book about managing emotions, complete with a shiny mirror on the last page!

Designed to spark curiosity, this sturdy, colorful board book will encourage little ones everywhere to explore their emotions. With sweet, rhyming text and bold illustrations, this book will show kids how Baby Shark manages his feelings whether he's happy, proud, silly, sad, or sleepy. Plus, a mirror on the final page allows kids to see themselves directly in the book!
 

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Guinea Pigs Go Painting

Kate Sheehy

Discover your favorite colors with guinea pigs Bob and Ginger as they paint a mural on their bedroom wall.

Introduce first colors to young children, featuring beautiful illustrations and two fun-loving guinea pigs, Bob and Ginger, that kids will love.

Guinea pigs Bob and Ginger feel their bedroom needs a makeover, so they set about painting a colorful underwater mural featuring yellow fish, green turtles, gray sharks, and many more marine animals. Spot all your favorite sea creatures—and your favorite colors—in this sturdy board book, perfect for little hands.

Colors are introduced page by page, and all come together in the final mural. Simple text helps build a child’s vocabulary and encourages recognition of key early-learning words. The fun-loving characters of Bob and Ginger will encourage children to return to the book again and again, both as a bedtime read and a learning tool.

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When I Feel Angry

Sharie Coombes

When I feel really, really, really angry, I want to be big and I want to be loud!

Developed in close consultation with expert child psychotherapist Dr. Sharie Coombes, When I Feel Angry makes an ideal tool to help children recognize, understand, and talk about their feelings more easily.

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My First Brain Quest Colors

Workman Publishing

Your kids love Brain Quest®, now it's baby's turn! Imbued with the core value “It's Fun to Be Smart!®”, the My First Brain Quest board book program is Brain Quest at its best: not only making learning fun, but encouraging the kind of interaction between children and caregivers that makes early learning meaningful.
         
Color identification is an important pre-math skill, and My First Brain Quest: Colors introduces children to ten basic colors through lively illustrations and a catchy, rhyming text. Smart, colorful, grounded in educational principles, reviewed by a panel of early learning experts, and defined by the signature question-and-answer format, each spread includes bright images and engaging questions to help the youngest readers discuss their observations and build on their prior knowledge.

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Mindfulness Moments for Kids: Bunny Breaths

Kira Willey

Part of the Mindfulness Moments for Kids series, this mindful meditation moment teaches kids to think like a bunny and find their own focused energy!

With Bunny Breaths, kids learn to how to replenish their energy with quick, focused breaths...no matter how blah they feel. Best of all, it can be performed anywhere: in the backseat of a car, at home, or even at a child's desk at school.

Mindfulness Moments for Kids offer easy-to-follow exercises that kids can use to manage their bodies, breathing, and emotions.

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My First Learn-To-Talk Book

Stephanie Cohen

Created by an early speech expert, this interactive first words book filled with fun-to-read rhymes helps little ones learn to talk!

Each page features:
- Simple, exciting sounds that are easy for little ones to imitate, and can be used to build bigger words
- Rhythm and rhyme to encourage repetition and help keep babies engaged, even before they can understand the text
- Real photographs that model correct mouth positions and support social emotional learning

Written by a speech-language pathologist, My First Learn-to-Talk Book is designed to help babies and toddlers master the skills they need as they learn to talk. Reading the book aloud helps caregivers easily model important aspects of communication for little ones-not only through sounds and words, but also with gestures, facial expressions and more!

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Disney It's A Small World: Hello, World!

Disney Books

Read along with Disney! This charming book takes children on a world tour by teaching them to say "Hello" in 10 different languages. The book includes all-new artwork that's colorful, modern, and inspired by Mary Blair's designs for the famous Disney theme parks attraction, "It's a Small World"!

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Disney It's A Small World: Hello, World!

Disney Books

Read along with Disney! This charming book takes children on a world tour by teaching them to say "Hello" in 10 different languages. The book includes all-new artwork that's colorful, modern, and inspired by Mary Blair's designs for the famous Disney theme parks attraction, "It's a Small World"!

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This Is Not a Unicorn!

Barry Timms

Get ready for a magical and hilarious adventure about the most fantastic unicorn EVER!
This book is NOT about a unicorn! Well . . . OK, maybe it is! But THIS unicorn has a horn that can turn into the most incredible things - a magic wand, a helicopter, even a space rocket! Join the hilarious adventure and prepare to be amazed by your brilliant new friend.

With wonderful wordplay and a funny and sweet friendship at its heart, this is NOT a unicorn book to be missed!

This fabulously funny story has tons of appeal for all children -- watch out for rockets, rainbows, helicopters, massive fish, ice cream sundaes, and magical adventures.

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How to Catch a Garden Fairy

Alice Walstead

From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling series comes a new springtime adventure perfect for Easter—do YOU have the magic touch needed to catch a Garden Fairy?

When the How to Catch Kids stumble upon a trail of glitter and the entrance to an enchanted garden, they decide that they have to explore! Hoping to find the resident Garden Fairy to learn about her magical realm, our heroes set off on a whirlwind adventure through this larger-than-life garden. Young readers, parents, and educators alike will laugh along as the Garden Fairy dodges ridiculous STEAM traps and hilarious plans, and even interacts with some surprise How to Catch friends!

Perfect for kids ages 4-10, this funny picture book makes a delightful Easter basket stuffer, classroom, summertime, or bedtime read-aloud, and graduation or birthday gift!

In the garden lives a legend filled with magic, wit, and fun,

So grab your friends and set your traps, and catch this fairy before the day's done!

Also in the How to Catch Series:

  • How to Catch a Mermaid
  • How to Catch a Unicorn
  • How to Catch the Tooth Fairy
  • How to Catch the Easter Bunny
  • How to Catch a Dinosaur
  • and more!
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Sprout Branches Out

Jessika von Innerebner

Discover the unbe-leaf-ably adorable story of a young plant with mulch to learn in this feel-good tale perfect for fans of The Bad Seed and Grumpy Monkey.

Sprout the plant lives on a small porch, in a little town. She’s only been able to grow two leaves and knows exactly why. Home is just not enough for her – she needs to venture out to the wild woods, the wise forest, and the lush jungle to find what she needs to thrive.

But once she’s out in the world, Sprout quickly learns that what she really needs may not be what she thought at all . . .

Meet a budding new picture book character with roots in this hilarious and heartfelt adventure about growing up, taking risks, and finding home again.

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Spring Crafts Across Cultures

Megan Borgert-Spaniol

Spring is a season of celebration! Join the fun with twelve festive crafts that celebrate holidays from around the world. Create a colorful wall hanging for the Hindu holiday Holi. Plant a garden to commemorate Earth Day. It's always the season for crafting!

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Abracadabra, It's Spring!

Anne Sibley O'Brien

Sun shines on a patch of snow.
Hocus pocus!
Where did it go?
Winter turns to spring in this lyrical book that celebrates the magic of nature and the changing seasons. Eleven gatefolds open to re-create the excitement and surprise of spring’s arrival, revealing what happens when snow melts, trees bud, flowers bloom, birds arrive, and eggs and cocoons hatch. Finally, it’s warm enough to pack away winter clothes and go out and play!

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In Pieces

Sally Field

In this intimate, haunting literary memoir and New York Times Notable Book of the year, an American icon tells her own story for the first time -- about a challenging and lonely childhood, the craft that helped her find her voice, and a powerful emotional legacy that shaped her journey as a daughter and a mother.
One of the most celebrated, beloved, and enduring actors of our time, Sally Field has an infectious charm that has captivated the nation for more than five decades, beginning with her first TV role at the age of seventeen. From Gidget's sweet-faced "girl next door" to the dazzling complexity of Sybil to the Academy Award-worthy ferocity and depth of Norma Rae and Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has stunned audiences time and time again with her artistic range and emotional acuity. Yet there is one character who always remained hidden: the shy and anxious little girl within.
With raw honesty and the fresh, pitch-perfect prose of a natural-born writer, and with all the humility and authenticity her fans have come to expect, Field brings readers behind-the-scenes for not only the highs and lows of her star-studded early career in Hollywood, but deep into the truth of her lifelong relationships--including her complicated love for her own mother. Powerful and unforgettable, In Pieces is an inspiring and important account of life as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century.

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At Sea

Emma Fedor

What happens when the man you love most in the world unexpectedly disappears and takes your small child with him? Emma Fedor’s “wonderful, haunting, and original” (Katherine Faulkner, author of Greenwich Park) debut explores the fierceness of first love and how far one woman will go to learn the truth about her family.

When Cara and Brendan first meet, she’s fresh out of college, recovering from the recent death of her mother, and spending time on Martha’s Vineyard while trying to figure out her next steps. She’s swept away by Brendan’s humor and charm, and intoxicated by his thrilling, dangerous secret: he can breathe underwater. Able to stay beneath the waves for longer than should be possible, Brendan reveals that he is part of a secret experimental unit of the US Special Forces. And Cara, struck by the power of his conviction, by his unstoppable charisma, and by the evidence before her, believes him.

Their summer romance turns serious. Then Cara gets pregnant. When their son, Micah, is born, she’s sure their happy ending is underway. Still, she’s thrown by Brendan’s dramatic moods, his unexplained disappearances, and the weight of his secrets. Cara is determined to stay strong for her young family—until he and baby Micah vanish, leaving her desolate and alone and questioning everything she once thought was true.

Five years later, Cara is still struggling to move forward, married to another man and trying to rebuild her life, when a local fisherman announces he’s spotted two people—one of them a small child—treading water in Nantucket Sound, far from any vessels and miles from shore. The news rekindles Cara’s never-abandoned hope that her little boy may still be alive. As she fights to untangle delusion from reality, and revisits a past she’s worked hard to reconcile, Cara is determined to learn the truth about her lost love and finally find her son in this “book you won’t be able to put down” (Jessica Anya Blau, author of Mary Jane).

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To Sleep with the Angels

David Cowan

On a grey winter day in December 1958, one of the deadliest fires in American history took the lives of ninety-two children and three nuns at a Catholic elementary school on Chicago's West Side. The blaze at Our Lady of the Angels School shocked the nation. It left many families physically and psychologically scarred for life, destroyed a close-knit working-class neighborhood, and sowed popular suspicion of the church hierarchy and city fathers. No one was ever prosecuted for setting the fire; to this day it remains an officially unsolved mystery. In To Sleep with the Angels, two veteran journalists tell the moving story of the fire and its consequences. David Cowan and John Kuenster have worked for years, talking with hundreds of sources and ferreting our documents to reconstruct a minute-by-minute narrative of the tragedy and the sorrows of its aftermath. It is a story of ordinary people caught up in a mind-numbing disaster. In gripping detail, the authors describe the fear, desperation, and panic that prevailed among children, teachers, firefighters, and parents in and around the stricken school building on that cold Monday afternoon. Beyond the flames, the story of the fire at Our Lady of the Angels became an enigma whose mystery has deepened with time: its cause was never officially explained despite evidence that it had been intentionally set by a troubled student at the school. The authors reveal for the first time this youngster's "confession" and the decision by a local judge not to pursue the case against him. The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago also refused to press an investigation, preferring to label the fire a terrible "accident".

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To Catch a Leaf

Kate Collins

Flower shop owner Abby Knight is aglow with happiness now that she's officially engaged to her longtime beau, Marco Salvare. Nothing can possibly dampen her joy-until wealthy dowager Virginia Newport is killed, and Abby's assistant Grace Bingham is the prime suspect. The plot thickens when they stumble upon mysterious stolen art and a missing cat, all part of an elaborate heist. Before Abby can throw her bouquet, she'll have to save her friend and throw a killer and a thief in jail...

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On a Night of a Thousand Stars

Andrea Yaryura Clark

In this moving, emotional narrative of love and resilience, a young couple confronts the start of Argentina's "Dirty War" in the 1970s, and a daughter searches for truth twenty years later.



New York, 1998. Santiago Larrea, a wealthy Argentine diplomat, is holding court alongside his wife, Lila, and their daughter, Paloma, a college student and budding jewelry designer, at their annual summer polo match and soiree. All seems perfect in the Larreas' world--until an unexpected party guest from Santiago's university days shakes his usually unflappable demeanor. The woman's cryptic comments spark Paloma's curiosity about her father's past, of which she knows little.



When the family travels to Buenos Aires for Santiago's UN ambassadorial appointment, Paloma is determined to learn more about his life in the years leading up to the military dictatorship of 1976. With the help of a local university student, Franco Bonetti, an activist member of H.I.J.O.S.--a group whose members are the children of the desaparecidos, or the "disappeared," men and women who were forcibly disappeared by the state during Argentina's "Dirty War"--Paloma unleashes a chain of events that not only leads her to question her family and her identity, but also puts her life in danger.



In compelling fashion, On a Night of a Thousand Stars speaks to relationships, morality, and identity during a brutal period in Argentinian history, and the understanding--and redemption--people crave in the face of tragedy.

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In the Unlikely Event

Judy Blume

In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by unexpected events.

In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, she paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place--Nat King Cole singing "Unforgettable," Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on.

In the Unlikely Event is vintage Judy Blume, with all the hallmarks of Judy Blume's unparalleled storytelling, and full of memorable characters who cope with loss, remember the good times and, finally, wonder at the joy that keeps them going.

Early reviewers have already weighed in: "Like many family stories, this one is not without its life-changing secrets and surprises. There is no surprise that the book is smoothly written, and its story compelling. The setting--the early 1950s--is especially well realized through period references and incidents." --Booklist (starred review) and "In Blume's latest adult novel . . . young and old alike must learn to come to terms with technological disaster and social change. Her novel is characteristically accessible, frequently charming and always deeply human." --Publishers Weekly

 

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The Grace Year

Kim Liggett

The Instant New York Times Bestseller! Kim Liggett's The Grace Year is a speculative thriller in the vein of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Power.

Survive the year.

No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.

With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between.

“A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel and an absolute page-turner.” – Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author

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The Violin Conspiracy

Brendan Slocumb

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK! • Ray McMillian is a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music worldwhen a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world.

“I loved The Violin Conspiracy for exactly the same reasons I loved The Queen’s Gambit: a surprising, beautifully rendered underdog hero I cared about deeply and a fascinating, cutthroat world I knew nothing about—in this case, classical music.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and Hour of the Witch

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream—he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. Not his mother, who wants him to stop making such a racket; not the fact that he can’t afford a violin suitable to his talents; not even the racism inherent in the world of classical music. 
 
When he discovers that his beat-up, family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach, and together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition—the Olympics of classical music—the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he's lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray must not only reclaim his precious violin, but prove to himself—and the world—that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

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Red Harvest

Michael Cherkas

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin waged a brutal war against the Soviet peasantry leading to the Holodomor, the terror-famine that killed at least 4 million Ukrainians during the fall and winter of 1932-33. Red Harvest is based on the tragic events that took place in Soviet Ukraine and other parts of the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1933. Stalin and the ruling Communist Party began their program of forced large-scale collectivization of individual farms and farmers, including the seizure of livestock, farm implements, crops, seed stock, and other property. Red Harvest is the fictional story, based on true stories as related to the Ukranian-Canadian author, of Mykola Kovalenko, a Ukrainian immigrant to Canada, who was the only member of his family to have survived the famine. Through his memories, we witness the horrors of what happened to his family and fellow villagers in the "breadbasket of Europe" as they struggled--not only to make sense of the war that was being waged against them--but, ultimately, to survive.

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Stranger Things: Tales from Hawkins (Graphic Novel)

Jody Houser

An anthology of vibrant new stories woven into the larger tapestry of the hit Netflix series! Discover the hidden stories from Hawkins, Indiana.

On the surface, Hawkins, Indiana seems like the kind of town where nothing too out of the ordinary ever happens, but in the fall of ’83 two hunters head out into the woods with their rifles and a six-pack, and find themselves the prey of a nightmarish beast. When Barb Holland goes missing, Murray Bauman is on the case if only he can look past his own suspicious mind to solve the case. Robin Buckley’s school film project gives her a chance to work with her secret crush, but does it only make it harder to come to terms with her feelings? And when pumpkins start inexplicably rotting, the feud between two farm families reaches a boiling point.

Joining Houser on her visit to Hawkins are artist Caio Filipe (Stranger Things: Summer Special, Nightwing), Sunando C (End After End), Giorgia Gio Esposito (Lunar Room, Dr. Who) colorist Dan Jackson (The Strain, Hellboy: Weird Tales), and letterer Nate Piekos (The Umbrella Academy, Black Hammer).

Collects Stranger Things: Tales from Hawkins issues #1–#4.

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Static: Shadows of Dakota

Vita Ayala

The breakout creative team of Vita Ayala and Nikolas Draper-Ivey have returned to make Static's life, and Dakota City, very complicated indeed--you've never felt shocks like these!

Though Virgil and his friends might have been able to stop the government's off-the-books prison operations in Dakota, a powerful new threat lurks in the shadows. The mysterious Ebon is cutting a bloody swath through the underworld on a single-minded quest to find his brother. Against this backdrop of exploding violence, innocent people are finding themselves in the crossfire.

Collecting Static: Season Two #1-6!

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Anita de Monte Laughs Last

Xochitl Gonzalez

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

A Most Anticipated Book of 2024: TIME, The Washington Post, Refinery 29, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, LA Daily News, LitHub, The Millions, TODAY.com, HipLatina, Book Riot, Kirkus, and more!

"Incandescent." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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 privileged students whose futures are already paved out for them, Raquel feels like an outsider. Students of color, like her, 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.

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This Could Be Us

Kennedy Ryan

"Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming." ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author



Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She's a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.



But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.



But then an unlikely man enters the picture--the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?



After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?



For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from "one of the finest romance writers of our age." ―Entertainment Weekly

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The Morningside

Téa Obreht

From the critically beloved, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife and Inland, a sweeping novel of mothers and daughters, displacement and belonging, and wondrous tales of a world both fallen and new

“A multifaceted gift of a novel that only Téa Obreht could conjure onto paper.”—Karen Russell, author of Orange World and Other Stories

There’s the world you can see. And then there’s the one you can’t. Welcome to the Morningside.

After being expelled from their ancestral home in a not-so-distant future, Silvia and her mother finally settle at the Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in a place called Island City where Silvia’s aunt Ena serves as the superintendent. Silvia feels unmoored in her new life because her mother has been so diligently secretive about their family’s past, and because the once-vibrant city where she lives is now half-underwater. Silvia knows almost nothing about the place where she was born and spent her early years, nor does she fully understand why she and her mother had to leave. But in Ena there is an opening: a person willing to give the young girl glimpses into the folktales of her demolished homeland, a place of natural beauty and communal spirit that is lacking in Silvia’s lonely and impoverished reality.

Enchanted by Ena’s stories, Silvia begins seeing the world with magical possibilities and becomes obsessed with the mysterious older woman who lives in the penthouse of the Morningside. Bezi Duras is an enigma to everyone in the building: She has her own elevator entrance and leaves only to go out at night and walk her three massive hounds, often not returning until the early morning. Silvia’s mission to unravel the truth about this woman’s life, and her own haunted past, may end up costing her everything.

Startling, inventive, and profoundly moving, The Morningside is a novel about the stories we tell—and the stories we refuse to tell—to make sense of where we came from and who we hope we might become.

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The Underground Library

Jennifer Ryan

When the Blitz imperils the heart of a London neighborhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to save the community’s beloved library in this novel based on true events from the author of The Chilbury Ladies Choir.

When the new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she is expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running the library, especially when a confrontation with her past threatens to derail her?

Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library, although she is only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front line and amid tumultuous family strife, she finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help.

Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, came to London on a domestic service visa only to find herself working as a maid for a man who treats her abominably. She escapes to the library every chance she can, finding friendship in the literary community and aid in finding her sister, who is still trying to flee occupied Europe.

When a slew of bombs destroys the library, Juliet relocates the stacks to the local Underground station where the city’s residents shelter nightly, determined to lend out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy threatens to unmoor the women and sever the ties of their community. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library? Or will the beating heart of their neighborhood be lost forever?

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Expiration Dates

Rebecca Serle

Being single is like playing the lottery. There’s always the chance that with one piece of paper you could win it all.

From the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer comes the romance that will define a generation.

Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.

But as Jake and Daphne’s story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.

Told with her signature warmth and insight into matters of the heart, Rebecca Serle has finally set her sights on romantic love. The result is a gripping, emotional, passionate, and (yes) heartbreaking novel about what it means to be single, what it means to find love, and ultimately how we define each of them for ourselves. Expiration Dates is the one fans have been waiting for.

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Listen for the Lie

Amy Tintera

"A world-class whodunit."
—Stephen King

“An extremely successful high-wire act, balancing between dark comedy and darker thrills.”
—Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Laugh-out-loud funny, thrilling and twisty...”
Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast "Listen for the Lie," and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.

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Happily Never After

Lynn Painter

Their name? The objectors.
Their job? To break off weddings as hired.
Their dilemma? They might just be in love with each other.
 
When Sophie Steinbeck finds out just before her nuptials that her fiancé has cheated yet again, she desperately wants to call it off. But because her future father-in-law is her dad’s cutthroat boss, she doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Her savior comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple (usually) wants to hear at their ceremony: “I object!”
 
During anti-wedding festivities that night, Sophie learns more about Max the Objector’s job. It makes perfect sense to her: he saves people from wasting their lives, from hurting each other. He’s a modern-day hero. And Sophie wants in.
 
The two love cynics start working together, going from wedding to wedding, and Sophie’s having more fun than she’s had in ages. She looks forward to every nerve-racking ceremony saving the lovesick souls of the betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, however, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a little hookup session or two—but it’s totally fine, because they definitely do not have feelings for each other. Love doesn’t exist, after all.
 
And then everything changes. A groom-to-be hires Sophie to object, but his fiancée is the woman who broke Max’s heart. As Max wrestles with whether he can be a party to his ex’s getting hurt, Sophie grapples with the sudden realization that she may have fallen hard for her partner in crime.

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Bye, Baby

Carola Lovering

A March 2024 Indie Next Pick

"Powerful, relatable and crazily addictive, Bye, Baby takes an unflinching look at the battling forces of toxicity and love which define so many female friendships. I couldn't put it down." ––Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of Ghosted and The Love of My Life

Every friendship has its shadow...

On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.

Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be in their small Hudson Valley hometown. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind—including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. But Billie knows the worst thing Cassie has ever done, and she will do whatever it takes to restore their friendship...

Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye, Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.

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The Great Divide

Cristina Henriquez

A powerful novel about the construction of the Panama Canal, casting light on the unsung people who lived, loved, and labored there

It is said that the canal will be the greatest feat of engineering in history. But first, it must be built. For Francisco, a local fisherman who resents the foreign powers clamoring for a slice of his country, nothing is more upsetting than the decision of his son, Omar, to work as a digger in the excavation zone. But for Omar, whose upbringing was quiet and lonely, this job offers a chance to finally find connection.

Ada Bunting is a bold sixteen-year-old from Barbados who arrives in Panama as a stowaway alongside thousands of other West Indians seeking work. Alone and with no resources, she is determined to find a job that will earn enough money for her ailing sister's surgery. When she sees a young man--Omar--who has collapsed after a grueling shift, she is the only one who rushes to his aid.

John Oswald has dedicated his life to scientific research and has journeyed to Panama in single-minded pursuit of one goal: eliminating malaria. But now, his wife, Marian, has fallen ill herself, and when he witnesses Ada's bravery and compassion, he hires her on the spot as a caregiver. This fateful decision sets in motion a sweeping tale of ambition, loyalty, and sacrifice.

Searing and empathetic,The Great Divide explores the intersecting lives of activists, fishmongers, laborers, journalists, neighbors, doctors, and soothsayers--those rarely acknowledged by history even as they carved out its course.

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Everyone Is Watching

Heather Gudenkauf

"Big Brother meets Clue in this utterly original and incredibly tense locked-room mystery." --May Cobb, author of A Likeable Woman



A mysterious high-stakes game proves life-threatening in this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest



The Best Friend. The Confidant. The Senator. The Boyfriend. The Executive.



Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.



When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show--someone is out for blood. And the game can't end until the world knows who the contestants really are...



And don't miss these other enthralling thrillers by Heather Gudenkauf:
 

  • The Weight of Silence
  • These Things Hidden
  • Little Mercies
  • Missing Pieces
  • Not a Sound
  • Before She Was Found
  • This is How I Lied
  • The Overnight Guest

 

 

 

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The Mystery Writer

Sulari Gentill

"Gentill nimbly balances the plausible with the outlandish in this sly thriller set in the publishing world." --Publishers Weekly

From 2023 Edgar Award nominee and bestselling author Sulari Gentill comes a literary thriller about an aspiring writer who meets and falls in love with her literary idol--only to find him murdered the day after she gave him her manuscript to read.

There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory--until it turns out to be true

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?

What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die.

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James

Percival Everett

NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME, NPR, THE SEATTLE TIMES, ELLE, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, AND OPRAH DAILY

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view - From the "literary icon" (Oprah Daily) and Pulitzer Prize Finalist whose novel Erasure is the basis for Cord Jefferson's critically acclaimed film American Fiction

"If you liked Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, read James, by Percival Everett" --The Washington Post

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river's banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin...), Jim's agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a "literary icon" (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

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The Other Side of Disappearing

Kate Clayborn

From the acclaimed author of Georgie, All Along and Love Lettering, a pitch-perfect, radiantly transporting love story about an unexpected road trip, true crime obsessions, and hard won vulnerability…

“Poignant, observant, tender, and deeply romantic. Clayborn takes what she does best and goes deeper, deftly braiding mystery and family drama with an absorbing romance in her trademark lyrical voice. This book is everything.”—CHRISTINA LAUREN, New York Times bestselling authors of The True Love Experiment


Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore.

Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins. Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.

Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess is discovering other things too. Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built. And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .

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How to Solve Your Own Murder

Kristen Perrin

 

Named most aniticpated by: Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, BookRiot, The Nerd Daily, Shelf Reflection, Novel Suspects, Borrow Read Repeat, The Everygirl, The Scout Guide, The Real Book Spy

The Top LibraryReads pick for March 2024

A Publishers Marketplace 2024 BuzzBook

For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club, an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate.... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer.

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
 
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
 
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

 

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This Little Kitty in the Garden

Karen Obuhanych

Spring is blooming, and what better way for rascally kittens to celebrate than by causing mischief in the garden in this charming picture book!

Spring has sprung on Sakura Way.
The five little kittles will garden today!

Read along as these frisky felines plant seeds, pounce and play, claw and climb, and splish, splash and swirluntil they end their day asleep in the garden bed. Filled with bright and playful illustrations, here is an adorable picture book that introduces kids to the wonders of spring as they spend time in the garden with these delightful catsall brimming with cattitude. Here is a picture book sure to charm cat lovers and kids alike.

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Fluffy McWhiskers Cuteness Explosion

Stephen W. Martin

Friendship is hard for Fluffy, a kitten so precious that anyone who looks at her explodes!

Meet Fluffy—an adorable kitten. So adorable, in fact, that anyone who sees her will spontaneously explode into balls of sparkles and fireworks. KABOOM! Poof.

Poor Fluffy doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, but everything she tries, even a bad haircut, just makes her cuter! So Fluffy runs away someplace no one can find her. Find out if there’s any hope for Fluffy in this funny and subversive story about self-acceptance and finding friendship in unlikely places.

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In Shock

Rana Awdish

Now a Los Angeles Times Bestseller

The New York Times Book Review: "Awdish's book is the one I wished we were given as assigned reading our first year of medical school, alongside our white coats and stethoscopes...dramatic, engaging and instructive."

A riveting first-hand account of a physician who's suddenly a dying patient and her revelation of the horribly misguided standard of care in the medical world

Dr. Rana Awdish never imagined that an emergency trip to the hospital would result in hemorrhaging nearly all of her blood volume and losing her unborn first child. But after her first visit, Dr. Awdish spent months fighting for her life, enduring consecutive major surgeries and experiencing multiple overlapping organ failures. At each step of the recovery process, Awdish was faced with something even more unexpected: repeated cavalier behavior from her fellow physicians—indifference following human loss, disregard for anguish and suffering, and an exacting emotional distance.

Hauntingly perceptive and beautifully written, In Shock allows the reader to transform alongside Awidsh and watch what she discovers in our carefully-cultivated, yet often misguided, standard of care. Awdish comes to understand the fatal flaws in her profession and in her own past actions as a physician while achieving, through unflinching presence, a crystalline vision of a new and better possibility for us all.

As Dr. Awdish finds herself up against the same self-protective partitions she was trained to construct as a medical student and physician, she artfully illuminates the dysfunction of disconnection. Shatteringly personal, and yet wholly universal, she offers a brave road map for anyone navigating illness while presenting physicians with a new paradigm and rationale for embracing the emotional bond between doctor and patient.

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In the Time of the Butterflies

Julia Alvarez

It is November 25, 1960, and the bodies of three beautiful, convent-educated sisters have been found near their wrecked Jeep at the bottom of a 150-foot cliff on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. El Caribe, the official newspaper, reports their deaths as an accident. It does not mention that a fourth sister lives. Nor does it explain that the sisters were among the leading opponents of Gen. Raphael Leonidas Trujillo's dictatorship. It doesn't have to. Everyone knows of Las Mariposas - "The Butterflies." Now, three decades later, Julia Alvarez, also a daughter of the Dominican Republic and long haunted by these sisters, immerses us in a tangled and dangerous moment in Hispanic Caribbean history to tell their story in the only way it can truly be understood - through fiction. In this brilliantly characterized novel, the voices of all four sisters - Minerva, Patria, Maria Teresa, and Dede - speak across the decades, to tell their own stories - from hair ribbons to gunrunning to prison torture - and to describe the everyday horrors of life under Trujillo's rule. The Butterflies were extraordinary women. Minerva, once the object of the dictator's desire, had dared to publicly slap his face. Devout Patria found her calling to the uprising through the church. Alluring - and vain - Maria Teresa joined in pursuit of romance. Only Dede, the practical one, the most diligent in her duty to family and tradition, kept apart. And only she survived to see that their names were remembered. Now, through the art and magic of Julia Alvarez's imagination, the martyred Butterflies live again. And Dede joins them as a heroine of equal courage.

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In the Midst of Winter

Isabel Allende

New York Times Bestseller

Worldwide bestselling “dazzling storyteller” (Associated Press) Isabel Allende returns with a sweeping novel about three very different people who are brought together in a mesmerizing story that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil.

In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident—which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster—a 60-year-old human rights scholar—hits the car of Evelyn Ortega—a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala—in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor’s house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz—a 62-year-old lecturer from Chile—for her advice. These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.

Exploring the timely issues of human rights and the plight of immigrants and refugees, the book recalls Allende’s landmark novel The House of the Spirits in the way it embraces the cause of “humanity, and it does so with passion, humor, and wisdom that transcend politics” (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post). In the Midst of Winter will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

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At Midnight

Dahlia Adler

A dazzling collection of original and retold fairy tales from fifteen acclaimed and bestselling YA writers

Fairy tales have been spun for thousands of years and remain among our most treasured stories. Weaving fresh tales with unexpected reimaginings, At Midnight brings together a diverse group of celebrated YA writers to breathe new life into a storied tradition. You’ll discover . . .

Dahlia Adler reimagining "Rumpelstiltskin,"
Tracy Deonn, “The Nightingale,”
H. E. Edgmon, “Snow White,”
Hafsah Faizal, “Little Red Riding Hood,”
Stacey Lee, “The Little Matchstick Girl,”
Roselle Lim, "Hansel and Gretel,"
Darcie Little Badger, "Puss in Boots,"
Malinda Lo, “Frau Trude,”
Alex London, "Cinderella."
Anna-Marie McLemore, “The Nutcracker,"
Rebecca Podos, “The Robber Bridegroom,”
Rory Power, “Sleeping Beauty,”
Meredith Russo, “The Little Mermaid,”
Gita Trelease, “Fitcher’s Bird,”
and an all-new fairy tale by Melissa Albert.

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At First Sight

Nicholas Sparks

In this #1 New York Times bestselling follow-up to True Believer, a young couple's love faces the ultimate test when the past disrupts the life and family they've built together.
There are a few things Jeremy Marsh was sure he'd never do: he'd never leave New York City; never give his heart away again after barely surviving one failed marriage; and, most of all, never become a parent. Now, Jeremy is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, married to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the birth of their daughter. But just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, an unsettling and mysterious message re-opens old wounds and sets off a chain of events that will forever change the course of this young couple's marriage.

Dramatic, heartbreaking and surprising, this is a story about the love between a man and a woman and between a parent and a child. More than that, it is a story that beautifully portrays how the same emotion that can break your heart is also the one that will ultimately heal it.

While the novel picks up the tale of Lexie Darnell and Jeremy Marsh that started in True Believer and will delight fans of that novel, it stands on its own as one of Nicholas Sparks's most deeply moving love stories.

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At Bertram's Hotel

Agatha Christie

Staff, guests and furnishings retain an elite Edwardian atmosphere "dignified, unostentatious, and quietly expensive" in 1955. But guest Miss Jane Marple overhears fast platinum beauty Lady Bess Sedgewick threaten to shoot doorman Irish decorated soldier Michael Gorman if he publicly remembers their wild past in Ballygowlan, and uneasily observes more than average identities mistaken in the lobby. Inspector benevolent-mannered "Father" Davy investigates major robberies, too many coincidental nearby witnesses of well-known Bertram visitors alibied elsewhere, searches for a mastermind criminal organization.

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Marina's Turf

Dela Costa

In the seventh Isla of Adventure chapter book, Isla helps a lost baby dolphin!

When a lost baby dolphin washes ashore calling for help, Isla prepares to use her animal-speaking ability to assist in any way she can. What she doesn’t expect is for a boy her age to beat her to the job! Not only that, but Isla can’t understand a single thing the dolphin says. Could it be that Isla’s out of her depth?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Isla of Adventure chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

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Henry Heckelbeck Makes Super Slime

Wanda Coven

In this fourteenth Henry Heckelbeck adventure, Henry’s homemade slime gets out of control!

Henry is determined to make the gooiest, stickiest, slimiest slime. It’s going to have glitter and cool colors…just as soon as he can stop it from swallowing everything in its path! Henry’s slime might have gotten a little bit out of hand. Can he find a way to tame it, or will his super slime become a super disaster?

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Henry Heckelbeck chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

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Drag and Rex: Forever Friends

Susan Lubner

Meet Drag and Rex, the sweet, silly best friends who find joy and adventure in the simplest places in this charming and cheery modern Frog and Toad.

Drag is a dreamy, literal, impulsive, (and sometimes a little bit scatter-brained) dragon. Rex is a dapper, practical, methodical (and sometimes a little bit stuffy) T.rex. The two may have their differences, but they are both gentle and caring, and the best friends. Forever friends.

Whether it’s deciding what to have for breakfast, working through those tricky zippers, buckles, and buttons to bundle up tight, how to make the best of a snowy day, or how to face down something scary, through patience, cooperation, and a good dose of silliness and humor, these buddies always figure out how to push through their challenges. Together.


Forever Friends features three stories told in short chapters, accompanied by bright, joy-filled full color illustrations, allowing developing readers to gain confidence and a sense of accomplishment as they follow the adventures of their new forever friends.

A Kirkus Reviews' Best Beginning Reader of the Year

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First Day, Worst Day

Andy Nonamus

A very unlucky kid navigates the many challenges of the first day of school in the first book in The Very Worst Ever chapter book series!

[REDACTED] keeps his name and school secret—even hiding his appearance behind stickers. Why? Because his bad luck is super embarrassing!

It’s the first day at a new school, and this fresh new start means absolutely no one knows just how unlucky he is. But after missing his school bus, getting lost looking for his classroom, and getting smacked in the face with a basketball, he quickly realizes he is doomed forever. Luckily, some new friends might just help him make it through the worst first day ever!

With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Very Worst Ever chapter books are perfect for emerging readers.

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Emma and the Love Spell

Meredith Ireland

Witchlings meets The Parent Trap in this contemporary fantasy about a girl who tries to use her fickle witchy powers to keep her best friend (and secret crush!) from moving away.

Twelve-year-old, Korean American adoptee Emma Davidson has a problem. Two problems. Okay, three:

1. She has a crush on her best friend, Avangeline, that she hasn't been able to share
2. Avangeline now has to move out of their town because her parents are getting a divorce
3. Oh, and Emma is a secret witch who can't really control her powers

It's a complicated summer between sixth and seventh grade. Emma's parents made her promise that she'd keep her powers a secret and never, ever use them. But if Avangeline's parents fell back in love, it would fix everything. And how hard could one little love spell be?

This fast-paced, heartfelt story is a powerful exploration of learning to embrace who you are, even when your true self is different from everyone around you.

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The World-Famous Nine

Ben Guterson

In this thrilling mystery from an award-winning author, Zander is determined to do whatever it takes to save his grandmother's nineteen-story out-of-this-world department store--perfect for fans of The Swifts and The Mysterious Benedict Society.



Zander Olinga's grandmother is the owner of the fabled Number Nine Plaza, the spectacular nineteen-story skyscraper. The Nine, as it's called, has everything imaginable, including a massive Ferris wheel on its rooftop, monorail tracks suspended from its ceiling, and twenty-five glass elevators. But there's something evil looming in the shadows, and strange accidents start befalling the guests. When Zander and his friend Natasha come across a series of inscriptions hidden throughout the walls of The Nine, they discover that the clues will lead them to a magical object which protects the store's very existence. With the future of The Nine on the line, the pair are determined to recover the mysterious object before the luxury plaza and its many guests are destroyed.



Featuring an unforgettable setting and a larger-than-life cast of characters, here's a spellbinding mystery involving puzzles, art, and high-stakes adventure.

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The Thirteenth Circle

MarcyKate Connolly

The X-Files meets Scooby-Doo in THE THIRTEENTH CIRCLE, a middle-grade mystery from MarcyKate Connolly and Kathryn Holmes, featuring two unexpected friends, crop circles, science fairs, and Men in Black, perfect for both the highly scientific and cryptid enthusiasts alike.

Cat knows aliens are real, and she’s determined to prove it. By studying the Weston Farm Circles, her town’s legendary crop circle phenomenon, she’ll not only demonstrate the existence of extraterrestrial life, but also win the grand prize in the McMurray Youth Science Competition—a feat she’s sure will impress her distant NASA scientist father.

Dani most certainly does not believe in aliens. How can she, when they go against every scientific principle she’s been taught? So when Dani is paired with Cat to enter the McMurray Youth Science Competition—which she has to win to avoid going to her parents’ artsy summer camp—she knows she’s at a disadvantage. Her solution? Disprove Cat’s theory, of course . . . without telling her partner her true intentions.

But as the girls bond over science, it becomes clear that there is something strange about the Weston Farm Circles. And when Dani and Cat’s project is threatened by suspicious forces, they’ll have to work together to expose the truth, once and for all.

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Haunted Holiday

Kiersten White

Giant battle robots! Cotton candy betrayal! Blasts from the past! And the ultimate challenge to stay true to themselves and each other await Theo and Alexander in the final book in the tragic series about the Sinister-Winterbottom twins, who must solve one wretched mystery after the next, brought to you by #1 NYT bestselling author Kiersten White.

Trapped in Aunt Saffronia’s spectral house, Theo and Alexander must work together to escape, stop their newfound nemesis Essa and her henchman Edgaren’t, save Wil and their friends, find their parents, and maybe, just maybe, get things back to normal.

Following the clues left behind, the twins find themselves at Siren’s Song Seaside Amusement Park. Old faces and new surprises await them in a park that was built to lure in visitors…and their secrets.

As they get closer to answers, the twins are left with the biggest question of all: Who is Essa really, and why is she so determined to find their parents?

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Waffles

Ellen Miles

Welcome to the Puppy Place! Where every puppy finds a home.

 

Charles and Lizzie Peterson love puppies. Their family fosters these young dogs, giving them love and proper care, until they can find the perfect forever home.Waffles is exuberant, playful, and smart - maybe too smart! She's quite the escape artist and Lizzie has her hands full trying to keep tabs on her.

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Princess Kira's Kiwi Jubilee

Netflix

An empowering, all-new chapter book adventure about girl power, self-expression, and friendship, based on the Netflix series Princess Power and inspired by the #1 New York Times bestselling picture book Princesses Wear Pants (from Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie and educator Alli Oppenheim)



When Princess Kira of the Kiwi Kingdom brings another stray pet to the palace, Queen Katia has to put her foot down. Caring for an animal is a big responsibility, and Kira already had too many teenykins!



Mom is right, but kindhearted Kira can't stand to see a creature in distress. Can she and her friends Penny, Rita, and Bea find homes for everyone at the Royal Animal Shelter? Helping others and working together--that's the princess way!



This original illustrated tale features beloved characters and explores the world of Princess Power, a new children's Netflix series inspired by the instant #1 bestselling picture books Princesses Wear Pants and Princesses Save the World. These curious, kindhearted, can-do princesses learn that as long as they stay true to themselves and work together, there's no challenge they can't face--and there's nothing sweeter than friendship!

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Birtle and the Purple Turtles

Tara J. Hannon

Everyone is a turtle in Turtletown. So Teeny thinks she must be a turtle, too. But when Teeny sprouts feathers, she begins to wonder . . . is there a teeny possibility she's a . . . BIRTLE?

Tootie loves tag, but the other turtles in Turtletown don't like to play. That is, until Tootie meets Teeny. Teeny LOVES tag. They have tons in common! Except one BIG thing . . . Teeny may not be a turtle at all.

This adorable graphic novel is about being true to yourself, friendship, and most of all, celebrating differences. It features a Dyslexia-friendly font.

"Not only are Tootie and Teeny some of the sweetest characters ever, but their friendship should serve as a blueprint for all friendships. With my whole heart, I wish for all of us to have a friend like these two, who will love, respect, and accept us for everything that we are, and all that we wish to be, flying turtle or otherwise. This whole book feels like a hug, a reassuring warm blanket of love that reminds us of the importance and of the magic that happens when our hearts and minds are open, and of the beautiful fact that we are all more alike than we are different." - Leila Boukarim, author of Zips and Eeloo Make Hummus

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Teen Titans Go to the Library!

Franco

All Raven wanted was a little peace and quiet, and the local library seemed like the perfect place to find that. But her teammates know all her tricks, and when they catch up to her all heck breaks loose.

All Raven wanted was a little peace and quiet, and the local library seemed like the perfect place to find that. But her teammates know all her tricks, and when they catch up to her all heck breaks loose.

It's not their fault: there's a villain on the loose! And that villain has a dastardly plot! And it could only happen at the library! When the teens get scattered into the library books, first they have to figure out what happened, then they have to find each other, then they have to find the real Jump City.

It's all in a day's work for our heroes. Not their normal day's work, which involves a lot of punching and posing. This is more like a reader's day's work! You know: the fun kind!

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Quantum Quest!

Mike Maihack

From award-winning writer/illustrator Mike Maihack, Spider-Man: Quantum Quest!, the action-packed and hilarious second graphic novel in the Mighty Marvel Team-Up series, everyone's friendly neighborhood super hero is sent to the Quantum Realm with the Fantastic Four!



During a morning of doing good deeds and super heroing, Spider-Man is interrupted by the Fantastic Four and Namor. The great underwater city of Atlantis has disappeared, and the heroes need Spider-Man's help to find it! While Spider-Man is unsure if his abilities can help him find the city, he takes on the mission hoping not to disappoint his heroes.



But when this mission takes him into the Quantum Realm, Spider-Man realizes that more than just a city has gone missing and that he might need more than just super powers to save the day!



Attention, readers! Traveling through the Quantum Realm may require you to spin your book on its side, upside-down, and back upright! Follow She-Hulk's directions to stick with Spidey through the Quantum Realm!



Also Available:

Spider-Man: Animals Assemble!

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Little Critter: Tricky Chickies

Mercer Mayer

Beloved I Can Read character Little Critter is making his first-ever appearance in I Can Read Comics! This lively, funny reader is filled with sound effects, panels, and speech balloons--the perfect introduction to young graphic novel storytelling.

There's a surprise at Grandma and Grandpa's farm--six lively chicks! When the chicks get loose, Little Critter comes up with a plan to get them back!

Full of Mercer Mayer's signature humor and beloved familiar characters, Little Critter: Tricky Chickies is a Level One I Can Read Comic, which means it's perfect for shared reading with young readers new to visual storytelling.

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Kitty Quest: Sinister Sister

Phil Corbett

In the third book of this laugh-out-loud graphic novel series that’s perfect for fans Dog Man and The InvestGators, the Kitty Quest crew will have to face their toughest challenge yet—a villain that’s part of the family!

Kitty Quest is on high alert because there’s a new villain coming to town: Princess Horribelle of Awfullia. (A place so terrible, it’s where the word awful comes from!) And she’s travelled all this way to visit her big sister Scarygold…who now goes by the name Perigold. Yes, as it turns out, our young heroine is actually heir to the throne of a wretched kingdom. Never wanting to be bad herself, Perigold completely left that life behind (well, except for that nifty crown she’s always wearing) in hopes of starting over in Pawdor.

Not knowing what she’s up to, Woolfrik and Perigold have no choice but to meet up with the princess. But things take a turn for the worse when an old nemesis with a big grudge against Kitty Quest shows up. Will Horribelle’s visit end in an innocent family reunion, or does she have something far more sinister up her sleeves?

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¿Sabes cómo funciona?

Cécile Jugla

This book explains the science behind 50 everyday items. Divided into sections entitled Food, Getting Ready, Entertainment, At Home, In Town, and Transportation, it teaches children where flour comes from, why we use soap, how cartoons are created, why we put food in the refrigerator, what happens to the trash after it has been picked up, what happens at the airport, and much more.

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¿Jugamos?

Ilan Brenman

When anyone invites Pedro to play, he replies he is already playing because he always has his cell phone in his hands or he is logged into his gaming system. He ends up missing out on all kinds of fun.

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El Sabio Diente de León Rosado

Katina Ivanova

Rosa vive en una hermosa tierra llamada El Jardín Delicioso con dos mejores amigos: una niña y su gato pequeño. El lugar está lleno de frutas y verduras, y su vida es alegre y pacífica.

 

La historia cobra impulso cuando la niña y su amiga, El Diente de León Rosa, emprenden un viaje inesperado a una esfera mágica. Allí se encuentran con un olivo cantante y pájaros mágicos, pavos reales blancos. Descubren plantas y campos inmaculados y asombrosos.

 

La autora, Katina Ivanova, publicó su primer libro "El hada del loto rosa" en 8 idiomas entre 2021 y 2022. Espera que más idiomas del libro se publiquen en 2023. Su primer libro se hizo popular en todo el mundo y ahora se encuentra en más de 500 librerías y bibliotecas prestigiosas, como la biblioteca más antigua de Estados Unidos y la librería más antigua de Londres, Reino Unido. Está disponible en bibliotecas en Estados Unidos, Australia, Tasmania, Alemania, Bélgica, Francia, Finlandia, Dinamarca, España, Escocia, Inglaterra, Austria y más. Este segundo libro de Katina Ivanova sigue la narrativa gentil y amorosa que es tradicional en los cuentos del folclore chino. La autora se graduó en Historia Mundial de la Cultura y también estudió Filosofía Antigua China durante más de una década, lo que se refleja en el texto de sus libros.

 

Esta es una historia relajante y educativa para niños de 4 a 9 años. Tanto los niños como los adultos pueden disfrutar visitando esta tierra mágica asombrosa; tiene un alto valor de relectura y joyas de sabiduría.

 

Al comprar este libro, obtienes un hermoso cuento de hadas moderno y también ayudas a los niños que viven en condiciones precarias.

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¿Cómo Como?

Patricia Geis

Averigua de dónde vienen sus nutrientes y por qué nos benefician, cómo percibimos su sabor, qué podemos hacer con los restos de este alimento y qué ocurre si plantamos su semilla.

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9 Kilómetros

Claudio Aguilera

Un niño sale al alba de su casa. Mientras cuenta sus pasos, se interna por bosques de arrayanes, atraviesa inmensos potreros y cruza caudalosos ríos. ¿Adónde lo lleva este largo camino? Todos los días, millones de niñas y niños alrededor del mundo asisten a la escuela en sus ciudades o pueblos. Pero otros miles deben recorrer largas distancias a través de selvas, ríos, cerros y llanuras para poder estudiar. Este emocionante libro es un homenaje a su esfuerzo diario, al deseo de aprender y al derecho a la educación.

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Lunar New Year Love Story

Gene Luen Yang

Graphic novel superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham join forces in this heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, and falling in love.

She was destined for heartbreak. Then fate handed her love.

Val is ready to give up on love. It's led to nothing but secrets and heartbreak, and she's pretty sure she's cursed—no one in her family, for generations, has ever had any luck with love.

But then a chance encounter with a pair of cute lion dancers sparks something in Val. Is it real love? Could this be her chance to break the family curse? Or is she destined to live with a broken heart forever?

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The Boy from Clearwater

Pei-Yun Yu

An incredible true story in graphic novel form that lays bare the tortured and triumphant history of Taiwan, an island claimed and fought over by many countries, through the life story of a man who lived through its most turbulent times.



★ "An exemplary tribute to an extraordinary hero. The stupendous achievements here are many: a synergistic literary success; a historic record of twentieth-century Taiwan; the remarkable account of a boy's life; and a triumph of translation." --Booklist (starred)



Part One: Taiwan, 1930s. Tsai Kun-lin, an ordinary boy born in Qingshui, recounts a carefree childhood despite the Japanese occupation: growing up happily with the company of nursery rhymes and picture books on Qingshui Street. As war emerges Tsai's memories shift to military parades, air raids, and watching others face conscription into the army. It seems no one can escape. After the war, the book-loving teenager tries hard to learn Mandarin and believes he is finally stepping towards a comfortable future; but little does he know, a dark cloud awaits him ahead.



Part Two: Taiwan, 1950s. In his second year at Taichung First Senior High School, Tsai is arrested simply for joining a book club and subsequently tortured, deprived of civil rights, and sent to Green Island for "reformation." Lasting until his release in September 1960, Tsai, a victim of the White Terror era, spends ten years of his youth in prison on an unjust charge. But he is ready to embrace freedom.



Experience parts one and two of the tour-de-force graphic novel series that took Taiwan by storm - parts three and four coming May 2024.

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Fence: Redemption SC

C.S. Pacat

A mysterious new fencer arrives at Halverton in the newest chapter of the GLAAD Media Award-nominated sports comic, perfect for fans of Heartstopper.

THE COMPETITION HAS BEEN RESET… EN GARDE! Return to the thrilling world of high-stakes, competitive fencing, with a brand new story featuring the beloved cast of characters from the original hit series. Are Seiji and Jesse really through? The rumors around Halverton, the prestigious fencing training camp, have spread like wildfire, but it’s not long before a mystery fencer arrives–one who may finally pose a threat to the #1 spot. Will Seiji’s unquenchable quest for rivalry take Nicholas’ place? Where will his loyalty lie? And, when Seiji gets an up close and personal look into Nicholas’ past and determination against adversity while preparing for the difficult road ahead and the State Championships, he’ll have to confront a tempting thought… are they on… a date? New York Times and USA Today best-selling author C. S. Pacat (Dark Rise, Nightwing) and acclaimed cartoonist Johanna the Mad (Wynd) continue their winning streak with this on-point entry in the GLAAD Media Award-nominated series! Collects Fence: Redemption #1-4.

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The Getaway List

Emma Lord

Inescapably romantic and brimming with New York Times bestselling author Emma Lord’s signature cheer, The Getaway List is an uplifting and romantic read that will settle into your heart and never leave.

Most Anticipated by Goodreads * The Nerd Daily * B&N Reads, and more!

An Amazon Best YA of the Month

The day of her high school graduation, Riley realizes two things: One, that she has spent the last four years trying so hard to be a Good Kid for her mom that she has no idea who she really is anymore, and two, she has no idea what she wants because of it. The solution? Pack her bags and move to New York for the summer, where her childhood best friend Tom and co-creator of The Getaway List — a list of all the adventures they’ve wanted to do together since he moved away — will hopefully help her get in touch with her old adventurous self, and pave the road to a new future.

Riley isn’t sure what to expect from Tom, who has been distant since his famous mom’s scriptwriting career pulled him away. But when Riley arrives in the city, their reconnection is as effortless as it was when they were young―except with one, unexpected complication that will pull Riley’s feelings in a direction she didn’t know they could take. As she, Tom, and their newfound friends work their way through the delightfully chaotic items on The Getaway List, Riley learns that sometimes the biggest adventure is not one you take, but one you feel in your heart.

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A Fragile Enchantment

Allison Saft

In this romantic fantasy of manners from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft, a magical dressmaker commissioned for a royal wedding finds herself embroiled in scandal when a gossip columnist draws attention to her undeniable chemistry with the groom.

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous gossip columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

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Nightshade Revenge

Anthony Horowitz

Alex Rider is now an IMDb TV/Amazon Original series!

From internationally bestselling author Anthony Horowitz comes the fourteenth thrilling installment of the Alex Rider series! Follow the world's greatest teen spy as he sets off to California to battle Nightshade once again--this time, for good.


When Alex Rider thwarted the plans of the criminal organization Nightshade, he knew he'd made a new, blatantly evil enemy. But he hadn't expected to get sucked back into the spy game so quickly--that is, until the Nightshade masterminds kidnap his best friend, forcing Alex to do their bidding if he ever wants to see his pal alive again.

As Alex dives deep into this latest mission, his friend isn't the only one whose life is on the line. Nightshade has entered the world of virtual reality gaming, and the lines between what's real and what's digital are being blurred everywhere. With a ruthless enemy fighting dirty and not caring who gets hurt along the way, the stakes have never been higher--and this time, it's personal.

The #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling Alex Rider series is back with a vengeance in this edge-of-your-seat adventure. Perfect for fans of James Bond and Jason Bourne!

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Yours from the Tower

Sally Nicholls

Bridgerton fans rejoice! This epistolary confection--told in letters among three school friends--is perfect for devotees of gossipy costume drama.

Tirzah, Sophia, and Polly are best friends who've left boarding school and gone back to very different lives. The year is 1896, and Polly is teaching in an orphanage, Sophia is scouting for a rich husband at the London Season, and Tirzah is stuck acting as an unpaid companion to her grandmother. In a series of letters buzzing with atmosphere and drama, the friends air their dreams, hopes, frustrations, and romances. Can this trio of very different young women--one industrious, one artful, and one in exile--find happiness and love near the dawn of the Edwardian era? From the award-winning author of the Carnegie Medal-nominated historical romance The Silent Stars Go By comes a playful, feel-good story of friendship and aspiration pitched just right for fans of Jane Austen and her contemporary disciples.

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Dungeons and Drama

Kristy Boyce

When it comes to romance, sometimes it doesn't hurt to play games. A fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks!

Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she's grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop.

Riley can't waste her time working when she has a musical to save, so she convinces Nathan—a nerdy teen employee—to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous.

But Riley didn’t realize that meant joining Nathan's Dungeons & Dragons game…or that role playing would be so fun. Soon, Riley starts to think that flirting with Nathan doesn't require as much acting as she would've thought...

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Courtesy of Cupid

Nashae Jones

In this middle grade rom-com sprinkled with a dash of magic, a girl uses her newfound ability to make people fall in love to sabotage her rival.

Erin Johnson’s thirteenth birthday unfolds like any other day, from her mom’s quirky and embarrassing choice of outfit to racing her nemesis, Trevor Jin, to the best seat in class—front row, center. But her gifts this year include something very out of the ordinary: magical powers.

Erin discovers her mysterious father is actually the love god Cupid and she’s inherited his knack for romance. It’s not the most useful ability for an overachiever with lofty academic and extracurricular goals…or is it? Erin desperately wants to be elected president of the Multicultural Leadership Club, and as usual, Trevor is her fiercest competition. He’s never backed down from a challenge before, but if Erin makes him fall in love with her, maybe he'd drop out of the race and let her win.

With her magical pedigree, wrapping Trevor around her finger is a snap, and having him around all the time is a small price to pay for victory. But without their cutthroat rivalry bringing out the worst in each other, Erin realizes Trevor may not be as bad as she thought, and suddenly her first foray into love gets a lot more complicated…

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Maybe It’s a Sign

E. L. Shen

An uplifting middle-grade novel about loss, luck . . . and deep-dish chocolate chip cookies—perfect for fans of King and the Dragonflies and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.

Seventh-grader Freya June Sun has always believed in the Chinese superstitions spoon-fed to her since birth. Ever since her dad’s death a year ago, she’s become obsessed with them, and believes that her father is sending her messages from beyond. Like how, on her way to an orchestra concert where she’s dreading her viola solo, a pair of lucky red birds appear—a sure indication that Dad wants Freya to stick with the instrument and make him proud.

Then Freya is partnered with Gus Choi, a goofy and super annoying classmate, for a home economics project. To her surprise, as they experiment with recipes and get to know each other, Freya finds that she may love baking more than music. It could be time for a big change in her life, even though her dad hasn’t sent a single sign. But with the help of her family, Gus (who might not be so annoying after all), and two maybe-magical birds, Freya learns that to be her own person, she might just have to make her own luck.

In Maybe It’s a Sign, E. L. Shen cooks up a deliciously voicey, comforting family story sweetened with a dollop of first romance, a dash of whimsy, and heaps of heart.

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The Dark Ascension Series: The Lost Ones

Lauren De Stefano

Journey to Never Land in the second book in the Disney Villains-focused Dark Ascension series, which shares the untold story of teenaged Captain Hook and his twin sister Marlene, penned by New York Times bestselling author Lauren DeStefano.

Before Captain Hook became Never Land's villain, there were two siblings seeking a home . . .

James and Marlene have always felt out of place in their humdrum fishing village, longing to escape the quiet lives their parents envision for them. But when Marlene's birthday wish transports them both to an unsettling, magical paradise called Never Land, they discover an unexpected alternative: the chance to stay forever with the charismatic Peter and his Lost Boys.

As the twins delve into the island's violent secrets, their actions reignite a conflict between the fractured Lost Boys--and for the first time in their lives, James and Marlene find themselves at odds. With a war brewing and their memories slipping away every minute they spend in Never Land, they must choose whether to stay or go. But even if the twins stand together, Never Land--and Peter--won't allow them to leave so easily.

How far are James and Marlene willing to go to chart their own destinies? And if the price for freedom is losing their true selves--and each other--is it worth the cost?

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The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee

Ellen Oh

When a Korean American teenage artist gets sucked into the world of her own web comic, she must find a way out with the help of a cute boy all while facing off against a villainous corporation. Inspired by the A-ha's "Take on Me" music video, this entertaining YA novel is a grounded speculative fiction adventure from a founding member of We Need Diverse Books.

"Sincere, smart, and meta…this stirring high-concept novel… stands out from the rest."-Soman Chainani, author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL series

"A lighthearted story with touches of romance and fantasy, told with K-drama flair." —Kirkus Reviews

Mina has become the hero of her own story. Literally.

When Mina Lee woke up on Saturday morning for SAT prep, she did NOT expect to:

1. Nearly be fried by a superhero who turned out to be a supervillain.
2. Come face to face with Jin, the handsome boy of her dreams.
3. Discover a conspiracy involving the evil corporation Merco that she created.

And it’s all happening in her fictional world. Mina is trapped in the story she created. Now it’s up to her to save everyone. Even if it means losing Jin forever.

From the award-winning author of Finding Junie Kim and co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, Ellen Oh. In the speculative fiction adventure The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee, a teenage artist grapples with her first love, grief, and learning how to take charge of her own life.

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A Delicious Story

Barney Saltzberg

"You ate the story?" says one mouse to the other in this funny, heartfelt read-aloud with pitch-perfect repartee and Barney Saltzberg's signature take on the joys of creativity.

Two mice—one big and one small—have a terrible problem. Little Mouse is looking for a story—they’re in a book, after all!—and Big Mouse has to admit the truth. The story is gone. And (gasp!) he ate it. That is not okay with Little Mouse, who is all ready to hear a story and will settle for nothing less. Saltzberg's improvisational dialogue showcases both the patience required of true creativity and the dazzling on-the-spot storytelling that can happen when you get in the flow. In the end, these endearing mice work out their conflict— and make the reader realize that they’ve been delivering a story all along. Parents and children will want to take this satisfying comedic journey together again and again.

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Yellowface

R. F. Kuang

A Best in Fiction Book for 2023

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

"Hard to put down, harder to forget." -- Stephen King, #1 New York Times bestselling author

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences... Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn't write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American--in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel.

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena's a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena's death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena's just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena's novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song--complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn't this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That's what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can't get away from Athena's shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June's (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang's novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

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When Women Were Dragons

Kelly Barnhill

 

A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. • The first adult novel by the Newbery award-winning author of The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.
 
Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and 
watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

In this timely and timeless speculative novel, award-winning author Kelly Barnhill boldly explores rage, memory, and the tyranny of forced limitations. When Women Were Dragons exposes a world that wants to keep women small—their lives and their prospects—and examines what happens when they rise en masse and take up the space they deserve.

 

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When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living?

NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • The Washington Post • Slate • Harper’s Bazaar • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly • BookPage

Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir

At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.

What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir.

Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.

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We're Going to Need More Wine

Gabrielle Union

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Root

Chosen by Emma Straub as a Best New Celebrity Memoir

“A book of essays as raw and honest as anyone has ever produced.” — Lena Dunham, Lenny Letter

In the spirit of Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman.

One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Union—a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic ’90s movies—instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real."

In this moving collection of thought provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic, and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and support.

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Walking with Ghosts

Gabriel Byrne

A highly anticipated memoir by Gabriel Byrne, the award-winning star of over 80 films, Walking with Ghosts is an exquisite portrait of an Irish childhood and a remarkable journey to Hollywood and Broadway success.

"Make no mistake about it: Walking with Ghosts is a masterpiece. A book that will wring out our tired hearts. It is by turns poetic, moving, and very funny. You will find it on the shelf alongside other great Irish memoirs including those by Frank McCourt, Nuala O'Faolain and Edna O'Brien." --Colum McCann

 

As a young boy growing up in the outskirts of Dublin, Gabriel Byrne sought refuge in a world of imagination among the fields and hills near his home, at the edge of a rapidly encroaching city. Born to working-class parents and the eldest of six children, he harbored a childhood desire to become a priest. When he was eleven years old, Byrne found himself crossing the Irish Sea to join a seminary in England. Four years later, Byrne had been expelled and he quickly returned to his native city. There he took odd jobs as a messenger boy and a factory laborer to get by. In his spare time, he visited the cinema where he could be alone and yet part of a crowd. It was here that he could begin to imagine a life beyond the grey world of 60s Ireland.

He reveled in the theatre and poetry of Dublin's streets, populated by characters as eccentric and remarkable as any in fiction, those who spin a yarn with acuity and wit. It was a friend who suggested Byrne join an amateur drama group, a decision that would change his life forever and launch him on an extraordinary forty-year career in film and theatre. Moving between sensual recollection of childhood in a now almost vanished Ireland and reflections on stardom in Hollywood and Broadway, Byrne also courageously recounts his battle with addiction and the ambivalence of fame.

Walking with Ghosts is by turns hilarious and heartbreaking as well as a lyrical homage to the people and landscapes that ultimately shape our destinies.

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Unsinkable

Debbie Reynolds

Unsinkable is the definitive memoir by film legend and Hollywood icon Debbie Reynolds.

In Unsinkable, the late great actress, comedienne, singer, and dancer Debbie Reynolds shares the highs and lows of her life as an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age, anecdotes about her lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, her experiences as the foremost collector of Hollywood memorabilia, and intimate details of her marriages and family life with her children, Carrie and Todd Fisher.

A story of heartbreak, hope, and survival, “America’s Sweetheart” Debbie Reynolds picks up where she left off in her first memoir, Debbie: My Life, and is illustrated with previously unpublished photos from Reynolds’s personal collection.

Debbie Reynolds died on December 28, 2016, at the age of 84, just one day after the death of her daughter, actress and author Carrie Fisher.

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Twelve Years a Slave

Solomon Northup

 

Now the major motion picture that won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, and Lupita Nyong’o, and directed by Steve McQueen
Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation.

After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

 

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True Crime Addict

James Renner

As seen on the Oxygen mini-series The Disappearance of Maura Murray

When an eleven year old James Renner fell in love with Amy Mihaljevic, the missing girl seen on posters all over his neighborhood, it was the beginning of a lifelong obsession with true crime. That obsession leads James to a successful career as an investigative journalist. It also gave him PTSD. In 2011, James began researching the strange disappearance of Maura Murray, a UMass student who went missing after wrecking her car in rural New Hampshire in 2004. Over the course of his investigation, he uncovers numerous important and shocking new clues about what may have happened to Maura, but also finds himself in increasingly dangerous situations with little regard for his own well-being. As his quest to find Maura deepens, the case starts taking a toll on his personal life, which begins to spiral out of control. The result is an absorbing dual investigation of the complicated story of the All-American girl who went missing and James's own equally complicated true crime addiction.

James Renner's True Crime Addict is the story of his spellbinding investigation of the missing person's case of Maura Murray, which has taken on a life of its own for armchair sleuths across the web. In the spirit of David Fincher's Zodiac, it is a fascinating look at a case that has eluded authorities and one man's obsessive quest for the answers.

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True Believer: the Rise and Fall of Stan Lee

Abraham Riesman

The definitive, revelatory biography of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, a writer and entrepreneur who reshaped global pop culture--at a steep personal cost

"A biography that reads like a thriller or a whodunit . . . scrupulously honest, deeply damning, and sometimes even heartbreaking."--Neil Gaiman

Stan Lee--born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922--was one of the most beloved and influential entertainers to emerge from the twentieth century. He served as head editor of Marvel for three decades and, in that time, launched more pieces of internationally recognizable intellectual property than anyone other than Walt Disney: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Thor . . . the list seems to never end. On top of that, his carnival-barker marketing prowess more or less single-handedly saved the comic-book industry and superhero fiction. Without him, the global entertainment industry would be wildly different--and a great deal poorer.

But Lee's unprecedented career was also filled with spectacular failures, controversy, and bitter disputes. Lee was dogged by accusations from key collaborators such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko over who really created Marvel's signature characters--iconic figures for whom Lee had always been suspected of taking more than his proper share of credit. A major business venture, Stan Lee Media, resulted in stock manipulation, bankruptcy, and criminal charges. A second one, POW! Entertainment, has been repeatedly accused of malfeasance and deceit. And in his final years, after the death of his beloved wife, Joan, rumors swirled that Lee was a virtual prisoner in his own home, beset by abusive grifters and issuing cryptic video recordings as a battle to control his fortune and legacy ensued.

Abraham Riesman is a veteran culture reporter who has conducted more than 150 interviews and investigated thousands of pages of private documents, turning up never-before-published revelations about Lee's life and work. Lee's most famous motto was "With great power comes great responsibility." Stretching from the Romanian shtetls of Lee's ancestors to his own final moments in Los Angeles, True Believer chronicles the world-changing triumphs and tragic missteps of an extraordinary life, and leaves it to readers to decide whether Lee lived up to the responsibilities of his own talent.

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Trejo

Danny Trejo

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“If you’re a fan like I am this is definitely the book for you.” —Pete Davidson, actor, producer, and cast member on Saturday Night Live

“Danny’s incredible life story shows that even though we may fall down at some point in our lives, it’s what we do when we stand back up that really counts.” —Robert Rodriguez, creator of Spy Kids, Desperado, and Machete

Discover the full, fascinating, and inspirational true story of Danny Trejo’s journey from crime, prison, addiction, and loss—it’s “enough to make you believe in the possibility of a Hollywood ending” (The New York Times Book Review).

On screen, Danny Trejo the actor is a baddie who has been killed at least a hundred times. He’s been shot, stabbed, hanged, chopped up, squished by an elevator, and once, was even melted into a bloody goo. Off screen, he’s a hero beloved by recovery communities and obsessed fans alike. But the real Danny Trejo is much more complicated than the legend.

Raised in an abusive home, Danny struggled with heroin addiction and stints in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons—including San Quentin and Folsom—from an early age, before starring in such modern classics as Heat, From Dusk till Dawn, and Machete. Now, in this funny, painful, and suspenseful memoir, Danny takes us through the incredible ups and downs of his life, including meeting one of the world’s most notorious serial killers in prison and working with legends like Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro.

An honest, unflinching, and “inspirational study in the definition of character” (Kevin Smith, director and actor), Trejo reveals how he managed the horrors of prison, rebuilt himself after finding sobriety and spirituality in solitary confinement, and draws inspiration from the adrenaline-fueled robbing heists of his past for the film roles that made him a household name. He also shares the painful contradictions in his personal life. Although he speaks everywhere from prison yards to NPR about his past to inspire countless others on their own road to recovery and redemption, he struggles to help his children with their personal battles with addiction, and to build relationships that last.

Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, Trejo is a portrait of a magnificent life and an unforgettable and exceptional journey.

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This Star Won't Go Out

Esther Earl

New York Times Bestseller!
 
“This moving read will have you reaching for the tissues and smiling with delight….Stunningly alive on the page, Esther shows that sometimes the true meaning of life—helping and loving others—can be found even when bravely facing death.” –People Magazine, 4 stars

In full color and illustrated with art and photographs, this is a collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Essays by family and friends help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.

Learn more about Esther at tswgobook.tumblr.com.

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Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Rob Lowe

A wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye

A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences as a painfully misunderstood child actor in Ohio uprooted to the wild counterculture of mid-seventies Malibu, where he embarked on his unrelenting pursuit of a career in Hollywood.

The Outsiders placed Lowe at the birth of the modern youth movement in the entertainment industry. During his time on The West Wing, he witnessed the surreal nexus of show business and politics both on the set and in the actual White House. And in between are deft and humorous stories of the wild excesses that marked the eighties, leading to his quest for family and sobriety.

Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last twenty-five years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable.

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A Star Is Born

Lorna Luft

New York Times bestselling author and daughter of Judy Garland tells the story of A Star Is Born -- at once the crowning achievement and greatest disappointment in her mother's legendary career. This is a vivid account of a film classic's production, loss, and reclamation.
A Star Is Born -- the classic Hollywood tale about a young talent rising to superstardom, and the downfall of her mentor/lover along the way -- has never gone out of style. It has seen five film adaptations, but none compares to the 1954 version starring Judy Garland in her greatest role. But while it was the crowning performance of the legendary entertainer's career, the production turned into one of the most talked about in movie history.
The story, which depicts the dark side of fame, addiction, loss, and suicide, paralleled Garland's own tumultuous life in many ways. While hitting alarmingly close to home for the fragile star, it ultimately led to a superlative performance -- one that was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost in one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history. Running far too long for the studio's tastes, Warner Bros. notoriously slashed extensive amounts of footage from the finished print, leaving A Star is Born in tatters and breaking the heart of both the film's star and director George Cukor.
Today, with a director's cut reconstructed from previously lost scenes and audio, the 1954 A Star is Born has taken its deserved place among the most critically acclaimed movies of all time, and continues to inspire each new generation that discovers it. Now, Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland and the film's producer, Sid Luft, tells the story of the production, and of her mother's fight to save her career, as only she could. Teaming with film historian Jeffrey Vance, A Star Is Born is a vivid and refreshingly candid account of the crafting, loss, and restoration of a movie classic, complemented by a trove of images from the family collection taken both on and off the set. The book also includes essays on the other screen adaptations of A Star Is Born, to round out a complete history of a story that has remained a Hollywood favorite for close to a century.

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Stalin's Daughter

Rosemary Sullivan

Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best Biography

PEN Literary Award Finalist

National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist

New York Times Notable Book

Washington Post Notable Book

Boston Globe Best Book of the Year

The award-winning author of Villa Air-Bel returns with a painstakingly researched, revelatory biography of Svetlana Stalin, a woman fated to live her life in the shadow of one of history’s most monstrous dictators—her father, Josef Stalin.

Born in the early years of the Soviet Union, Svetlana Stalin spent her youth inside the walls of the Kremlin. Communist Party privilege protected her from the mass starvation and purges that haunted Russia, but she did not escape tragedy—the loss of everyone she loved, including her mother, two brothers, aunts and uncles, and a lover twice her age, deliberately exiled to Siberia by her father.

As she gradually learned about the extent of her father’s brutality after his death, Svetlana could no longer keep quiet and in 1967 shocked the world by defecting to the United States—leaving her two children behind. But although she was never a part of her father’s regime, she could not escape his legacy. Her life in America was fractured; she moved frequently, married disastrously, shunned other Russian exiles, and ultimately died in poverty in Wisconsin.

With access to KGB, CIA, and Soviet government archives, as well as the close cooperation of Svetlana’s daughter, Rosemary Sullivan pieces together Svetlana’s incredible life in a masterful account of unprecedented intimacy. Epic in scope, it’s a revolutionary biography of a woman doomed to be a political prisoner of her father’s name. Sullivan explores a complicated character in her broader context without ever losing sight of her powerfully human story, in the process opening a closed, brutal world that continues to fascinate us.

Illustrated with photographs.

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Spinster

Kate Bolick

A New York Times Book Review Notable Book

"Whom to marry, and when will it happen--these two questions define every woman's existence."

So begins Spinster, a revelatory and slyly erudite look at the pleasures and possibilities of remaining single. Using her own experiences as a starting point, journalist and cultural critic Kate Bolick invites us into her carefully considered, passionately lived life, weaving together the past and present to examine why- she--along with over 100 million American women, whose ranks keep growing--remains unmarried.

This unprecedented demographic shift, Bolick explains, is the logical outcome of hundreds of years of change that has neither been fully understood, nor appreciated. Spinster introduces a cast of pioneering women from the last century whose genius, tenacity, and flair for drama have emboldened Bolick to fashion her life on her own terms: columnist Neith Boyce, essayist Maeve Brennan, social visionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, and novelist Edith Wharton. By animating their unconventional ideas and choices, Bolick shows us that contemporary debates about settling down, and having it all, are timeless--the crucible upon which all thoughtful women have tried for centuries to forge a good life.

Intellectually substantial and deeply personal, Spinster is both an unreservedly inquisitive memoir and a broader cultural exploration that asks us to acknowledge the opportunities within ourselves to live authentically. Bolick offers us a way back into our own lives--a chance to see those splendid years when we were young and unencumbered, or middle-aged and finally left to our own devices, for what they really are: unbounded and our own to savor.

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Sicker in the Head

Judd Apatow

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An all-new collection of honest, hilarious, and enlightening conversations with some of the most exciting names in comedy—from lifelong comedy nerd Judd Apatow.

“When I need to read an interview with a comedian while in the bathroom, I always turn to Judd Apatow for deeply personal insights into the comedic mind. Place one on your toilet today.”—Amy Schumer

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Vulture


No one knows comedy like Judd Apatow. From interviewing the biggest comics of the day for his high school radio show to performing stand-up in L.A. dive bars with his roommate Adam Sandler, to writing and directing Knocked Up and producing Freaks and Geeks, Apatow has always lived, breathed, and dreamed comedy.

In this all-new collection of interviews, the follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Sick in the Head, Apatow sits down with comedy legends such as David Letterman, Whoopi Goldberg, and Will Ferrell, as well as the writers and performers who are pushing comedy to the limits, and defining a new era of laughter: John Mulaney, Hannah Gadsby, Bowen Yang, Amber Ruffin, Pete Davidson, and others. In intimate and hilariously honest conversations, they discuss what got them into comedy, and what—despite personal and national traumas—keeps them going.

Together, they talk about staying up too late to watch late-night comedy, what kind of nerds they were high school, and the right amount of delusional self-confidence one needs to “make it” in the industry. Like eavesdropping on lifelong friends, these pages expose the existential questions that plague even the funniest and most talented among us: Why make people laugh while the world is in crisis? What ugly, uncomfortable truths about our society—and ourselves—can comedy reveal? Along the way, these comics reminisce about those who helped them on their journey—from early success through failure and rejection, and back again—even as they look ahead to the future of comedy and Hollywood in a hyper-connected, overstimulated world.

With his trademark insight, curiosity, and irrepressible sense of humor, Apatow explores the nature of creativity, professional ambition, and vulnerability in an ever-evolving cultural landscape, and how our favorite comics are able to keep us laughing along the way.

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Saved

Diane Keaton

Diane Keaton’s cabinet of saved and found photographic curiosities is a visual autobiography of sorts and scrapbook of her fascinations and reflections.

A visual autobiography of a kind as only Diane Keaton could tell it, via the celebrated star’s idiosyncratic and personal collections and ruminative texts, Savedoffers an unprecedented glimpse into the mind of the legendary film star. The book begins with an homage to movies—curiously, to old “b” grade horror flicks, such as Attack of the Puppet People—a passion that manifests in a collection of rare film stills showing large-brain aliens with crablike hands and terrified men with eyes growing from their shoulders. In a second chapter or collection, the reader encoun-ters “Cracked,” a startling selection of crinkled and neglected negatives: found portraits that speak of the past through the broken lens of time. Even more intimately revealing are photographs taken by the star herself, be they of pigeons while on downtime from the set of Reds in London or of the “greeters” of Hollywood Boulevard, caught at the other end of her Rolleiflex camera lens, now revealed as the seen, the experienced, the remembered, the cherished. But this is only the beginning, the surface of a very deep dive into the wellsprings of one of the great creative talents at work today. The book is an invitation to dive in.

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