Summer Staff Picks
Escape into summer reading!
Inspire your summer TBR list with these staff picks you’ll want to put in your beach bag.
Elizabeth’s Pick:
“A grand mansion on a private island. Family drama. Romantic tension that crackles like a summer thunderstorm. Rich people behaving badly is one of my favorite genres!”
These Summer Storms: A Novel by Sarah MacLean
From New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean, a razor-sharp, wildly sexy novel about a wealthy New England family’s long-overdue reckoning . . . and the one week that threatens to tear them apart.
“This is the kind of book I know I can recommend to anyone—and be sure they’ll fall in love with it just as deeply as I did. It’s perfect for fans of Succession and Knives Out, and also for anyone who’s interested in watching a family’s outcast fall for her dead father’s mysterious, hypercompetent fixer. If you are looking for a perfect book for this summer, this is the one!”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood
Available in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Prints Editions.
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Maureen’s Pick:
“Somehow this was my first time reading a book by Joyce Carol Oates. From start to finish, this book is propulsive. Oates created an atmosphere that I thought about even when I wasn’t reading—and I couldn’t wait to get back to. Now I need to go back and read her other novels.”
Fox: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates
A spellbinding novel of literary and psychological suspense about the dark secrets that surface after the shocking disappearance of a charismatic, mercurial teacher at an elite boarding school—by the legendary author “who is surely on any shortlist of America’s greatest living writers” (The New York Times Magazine).
“Reading Fox is like being spellbound by a hypnotist who may not wish you well, who leads you, with a deceptively gentle hand, toward that dark forest you fear. Joyce Carol Oates has created a sinister fable all the more chilling for persuading its readers to collude in the unthinkable. Eerie, shocking, provoking, and beautifully written, Fox is yet further proof that Oates is one of the greatest writers among us today.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Gillian Flynn
Available June 17th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Miriam’s Pick:
“Set in the deep Amazon forest, this searing narrative tells how a British journalist and an indigenous expert become the hyper-visible symbols of the undeclared war on nature.”
How to Save the Amazon: A Journalist’s Fatal Quest for Answers by Dom Phillips
Journalist Dom Phillips traveled deep into the Amazon rainforest searching for solutions to the problem of deforestation, a threat to the local ecosystem, native tribes, and the global climate. When he was murdered in the Javari Valley by a group of environmental criminals, a cohort of journalists and activists took up his work to finish his book and share his important message.
“A work of courage interrupted by tragedy. It is a tribute to Dom Phillips’s passion and openheartedness that his friends came together to finish his work. No book speaks more persuasively to the importance of the Amazon and the dangers that it faces.”—Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction
Available June 10th in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
Kate’s Pick:
“I’ll never say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover,’ because the cover is exactly what drew me in to These Heathens. And behind the striking cover lies a funny, poignant, and timely story of a young Black girl in 1960s Georgia taking control over what she wants in her life.”
These Heathens: A Novel by Mia McKenzie
From the “razor-sharp and outrageously funny” (Taylor Jenkins Reid) mind of Mia McKenzie comes a vibrant novel exploring how one weekend can change your whole life.
“A funny, sinful look at the Civil Rights Movement from a valuable queer perspective, and a glorious addition to the canon of resistance literature. These Heathens further proves Mia McKenzie is a name you should and will know for years to come.”—Gabriel Bump, author of Everywhere You Don’t Belong and The New Naturals
Available June 17th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Rachel’s Pick:
“I’m just emerging from the dissociative fugue of maternity leave, and all that kept me sane was a round-the-clock presence of podcasts and audiobooks. True crime and midnight feeds go hand-in-hand, and Murderland will keep even the strongest among us wide awake.”
Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers by Caroline Fraser
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Prairie Fires comes a terrifying true-crime history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond—a gripping investigation of how a new strain of psychopath emerged out of a toxic landscape of deadly industrial violence.
“This book is a mapping, of murderers and their victims, yes, but also of the battle between nature and society, a battle staged out on the edge of America and in the hearts of the people who live there . . . This story is a menace and a beauty. It left me deeply unsettled—by the idea of monsters, by the myth of free will, and by all the realms of cause and effect that remain unexplored.”—Wright Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
Available June 10th in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Sharnell’s Pick:
“Enemies-to-lovers? Academic rivals? Monster slayers falling for morally gray hotties? This anthology felt tailor-made for me. It’s packed with swoony, tropey goodness and just the right amount of magic, which makes it a perfect read for this summer.”
The Secret Romantic’s Book of Magic: Twelve Spellbinding Romantasy Stories by Olivie Blake, Kelley Armstrong, Katherine Arden, Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Tasha Suri, Melissa Marr, Megan Bannen, A.G. Slatter, A.C. Wise, Kelly Andrew, Kamilah Cole and Eliza Chan; Edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane
Fall in love with these twelve gorgeous Romantasy stories from bestselling and beloved authors.
From relationships caught in disparate timelines to ghostly ballrooms and dragons that need rescuing from princesses, this anthology gives you an inventive new spin on all your favorite tropes, and much more that you’ve never seen before.
Available June 24th in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
Jen R.’s Pick:
“Welcome to ‘the mommune.’ Domenica Ruta’s novel grabs you right away from the vivid, humorous, and compelling imagery of the first page, introducing you to Sandy, a single mom, who is struggling to pump in the bathroom at work. Ruta’s beautiful writing style and unique tale of motherhood & family will be the perfect read for my ‘mom book club!’”
All the Mothers: A Novel by Domenica Ruta
From New York Times bestselling author Domenica Ruta comes a “delightful and honest” (Harper’s Bazaar) novel about a single mom reimagining what the perfect family can look like.
“A perfectly charming and complex ode to mothers and found families . . . The real marvel is the beautifully drawn characters, who are realized with tremendous depth. Ruta skillfully sketches the complexities and struggles of single motherhood, especially as it relates to financial precarity and the importance of cultivating joy and community.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Available in Hardcover, eBook, and Audio Editions.
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Kelly’s Pick:
“I am a huge fan of Eli Cranor and I think this next book taking on small town football and the corruption that sometimes surround it, will appeal to Friday Night Lights fans, small town mystery readers, and book with unexpected twists and turns.”
Mississippi Blue 42 by Eli Cranor
Former quarterback turned Edgar-winning author Eli Cranor throws a glorious game winner in this series debut starring a rookie FBI agent who finds herself caught in the tangled web of a college football empire—and the bloody greed that fuels it.
“Former college quarterback Eli Cranor scores big with Mississippi Blue 42, a fun, provocative crime novel that takes aim at the heart of the American game.”—Michael Koryta, New York Times bestselling author of An Honest Man
Available August 5th in Hardcover and eBook Editions.
Jen C’s Pick:
“A twisty, transportive thriller full of family secrets and childhood innocence. The perfect read to toss into your beach bag, carry-on, or backpack this summer!”
A Beautiful Family: A Novel by Jennifer Trevelyan
Over the course of one sunbaked summer vacation, a family is pulled into a web of mysteries that the younger daughter sets out to solve. A tense, page-turning debut of childhood, innocence, and evil.
“I absolutely loved this page-turning family mystery and didn’t want it to end. The author so effortlessly transported me to another place and time, and every character leapt off the page. An extraordinary, exquisitely written debut.”—Liane Moriarty, New York Times bestselling author of Here One Moment
Available June 24th in Hardcover, eBook, Audio, and Large Print Editions.
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