St. Martin's Press 7/11/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. On sale 7/11/23. Pre-order today! Store pick: Sadie is exactly what you'd expect of a 'starving artist' -- no steady work, barely making ends meet, living in a rooftop hovel, a disappointment to her family, but painting portraits like her mom did is what makes her happy. Until she needs brain surgery and is left with the unfortunate side effect of face blindness, which is made especially unfortunate because of her placement in a portrait-painting contest happening in just a few weeks, that requires her to paint a new portrait. ... View More...
St. Martin's Griffin 7/14/2020. New paperback. Store pick: You will cheer for tough-as-nails firefighter Cassie Hanwell, cry for her, mentally will her on, and celebrate with her at the end. Things You Save in a Fire effortlessly captures the realities of modern American women while at the same time radiating a contagious positivity. Reading Katherine Center is your pleasurable antidote for the daily news cycle. -Jill Hendrix, store owner (seconded by Linda H., store volunteer, and Melissa O., store employee) View More...
Simon & Schuster 5/23/2023. New paperback. Store pick: Closer by Sea was mesmerizing. I could not put down this amazing coming-of-age story that also included a mystery, some thrilling suspense scenes, and a spectacular look at life in a small Newfoundland fishing village in early 1990?s at the end of its life as a fishing village. It was obvious that the author, who grew up in a similar village, cares deeply for the environment and the sea. Perfect for fans of William Kent Kreuger's This Tender Land. -Nancy M., store volunteer View More...
HarperCollins 4/15/2014. New paperback. Store pick: The price of the mysterious fairy tales that appear in Galavindal every year are the lives of two children from the town: One beautiful to attend the School for Good and one peculiar outcast to attend the School for Evil. Yet when Sophie, the fair-haired beauty, is sent to the School of Evil, and Agatha, the dark and peculiar outcast, is sent to the School of Good, it appears that a great error has occurred. Now both girls will be faced with challenges that will test their very being. As you read this book, you will find yourself asking 'Wha... View More...
Scribner 2/7/2023. New paperback. Store pick: Jessamine Chan has created a world that institutionalizes motherhood and grades struggling mothers on their responses to life-like robot children. The School for Good Mothers is a government run program that promises to create exactly that. Frida, the newly divorced mother of baby Harriet, finds herself navigating the school's impossible classes in a hopeful bid to regain shared custody. Chan gives readers a relevant and disturbing look at government overreach and society's absurd expectations of mothers with heartbreaking results. -Mary Jane, st... View More...
Jove 4/25/2006. New paperback. Meet Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman and one of my favorite series characters of all time. When Reacher makes an impulse decision to ask a Greyhound bus driver to let him off near the town of Margrave, Georgia, where the famed blues guitarist Blind Blake died, he had no idea that less than an hour later he'd be under arrest for murder. A rip-roaring thriller with some of the best action scenes around, the Reacher series is recommended to fans of Robert Parker, Stephen Hunter, or the TV show 24. Store pick: Recommended by Nancy M., store volunteer. View More...
Berkley 4/4/2023. New paperback. Store pick: A grumpy/sunshine witchy rom-com that will satisfy any romance reader looking for some magic and spice in their reading life. I loved the relationship growth between grumpy warlock Willem and sunny familiar Penny, and I'm looking forward to reading more from Jessica Clare. -Melissa O., store employee View More...
Sourcebooks Landmark 3/7/2023. New paperback. Store pick: Meg Williams is a con artist. She is very, very smart, and exceptionally good at what she does, and she has been waiting years for the opportunity to get revenge on her current mark. Kat Roberts was an up-and-coming journalist until 10 years earlier when Meg Williams called in a tip on a story on which she was working. That tip led Kat to a man who drugged and raped her and destroyed her life and career and she has blamed Meg ever since. For the past 10 years Kat has been trying to find Meg and uncover all her cons so she can write an ... View More...
Simon & Schuster 4/18/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Co-written by Alafair Burke. Store pick: Boy, did this bring back memories of when I read Mary Higgins Clark for the first time almost 50 years ago. Where are the Children Now? makes a great sequel to the original (Where Are the Children?) and a great stand alone thriller if you somehow are a mystery reader and never read this. But I highly recommend that you read Where Are the Children? if you never have. -Nancy M., store volunteer View More...
Quill Tree Books 11/8/2022. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Co-written by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon. Store pick: Whiteout is a fun young adult rom-com with African-American protagonists set up in interlocking short stories that will encompass the entire city of Atlanta during an epic snowstorm. Each character and story are connected to the others in one way or the other. Whether they are stuck at the Hartsfield Jackson airport, in a car on 1-85, or in the Georgia Aquarium, just to mention a few, each character will not be ... View More...
Harper 3/7/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Signed bookplate laid in. Store pick: Lillian Waters is a country music singer who is losing her voice. In an effort to beat the clock on her singing career, Lillian has put together one last concert tour. This tour is about much more than performing, though. Lillian hopes that her final stop in her hometown of Walla Walla, Washington, will also bring her closure on a strained relationship with her sister. Told in alternating time periods of the 1980 farewell tour and Lillian's life beginning in 1924, Stephanie Clifford gives us a lyrical a... View More...
Broadway 6/5/2012. New paperback. Store pick: Recommended by Adam, store volunteer (and Jill's brother) (seconded by Jill Hendrix, store owner). View More...
Atria Books 11/1/2022. New paperback. Store pick: Last Christmas, Ellie met Jack, the girl of her dreams. It fell apart the next morning, but Ellie's still not over her, despite what she tells her best friend. This year, Ellie's 10-year plan is way off track, she's stuck in a dead-end job with an impending eviction...and she's fake-engaged to her landlord Andrew to help him get his inheritance, and they're on their way to spend the holidays at his family's 'cabin' (read: mansion in the woods). And guess who else is there? Yep, Jack, who just happens to be Andrew's sister. A fun and flirty hol... View More...
David & Charles 4/27/2021. New paperback. Store pick: Since COVID I've gotten back into cross-stitching, which I've found to be a relaxing and meditative hobby. This collection has some wonderful modern designs for outdoor enthusiasts, gardeners, and conservationists. You may know the author as Stitchrovia on Etsy. -Jill Hendrix, store owner View More...
William Morrow 11/5/2013. New paperback. Store pick: Carolina Sparrow is a driven NYC lawyer who is determinedly focused on her career. Josephine Bell, a house slave in the 1850s, was similarly focused on her quest for freedom. Conklin does a masterful job comparing the lives of these two amazingly strong women who are both raised in the absence of the traditional family unit. The incorporation of archived letters telling of events at the time are fascinating to read. While a happy ending to a story involving slavery is not possible, the characters and their journey make this book a compellin... View More...
Bantam 5/23/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: Once again the sisters have written a book where the main characters are not really very likeable. Sloane didn?t believe Peg when she complained about Whitt, and she upset her deceased husband?s family by marrying Whitt hardly anytime after Robert died. Whitt was a typical greedy, unlikeable politician, Athena obviously was up to no good and was not who she claimed to be. But, once again, as I did with The Last Mrs. Parrish, I kept on reading even though I soon felt sorry for Sloane and was more and more disgusted by Whitt and ... View More...
Flatiron 6/6/2023. New hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: Only Cosby?s beautiful prose could make a dark story about the racist south so enjoyable. The mystery ? who killed and mutilated 7 young black children and who is now killing anyone who may know who he is ? holds the book together, but the real story is about Titus and his struggles with a past that still haunts him and about him trying to do the best job he can for everyone as the first black sheriff in his small hometown, even though he knows half of the town hates him. -Nancy M., store volunt... View More...
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 4/18/2023. New paperback. Store pick: Blaine is all set to say yes when his boyfriend of a year asks him to vacation with his family, which he's sure is going to happen tonight, on their anniversary. Except instead, Blaine gets dumped. Because his (now ex) boyfriend -- class president, Northwestern-bound, future president of America -- thinks he should be with someone more 'serious'. So Blaine decides to become a Serious Guy by running for senior class president to win his ex back. What Blaine doesn't count on is actually wanting to be class president ... View More...
Grand Central Publishing 12/6/2022. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Co-written by Greg Hanlon. Store pick: I am a football fan who happens to adore the New York Football Giants and the Manning QB's. I have always appreciated Tom Coughlin as a coach and as a person. How can you not admire a man who got frostbite coaching a game and had no idea? Clearly the book was a must read for me, and it did not disappoint. The dissection of his first Giant's Super Bowl win I believe is a diary any football fan will relish. The little things that every coach will emphasize are explained in meticulous d... View More...
Flatiron 7/11/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. On sale 7/11/23. Pre-order today! Store pick: There is a medical condition where people feel no fear and Ben Koenig has it. Ben was a special ops agent until something happened during an op that caused him to have to disappear for 6 years. He has somehow been found by his old boss who needs Ben to find his kidnapped daughter. When you feel no fear you do things your enemies don?t expect, and this is one of the reasons Ben is able to get out of seemingly impossible situations. His lack of fear and his training with special ops groups from... View More...
