Category: Bookworm

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9 New Books to Add to your Summer Reading List

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In the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.

Timeless and bittersweet, Husbands & Lovers takes readers on an unforgettable journey of heartbreak and redemption, from the revolutionary fires of midcentury Egypt to the moneyed beaches of contemporary New England. Acclaimed author Beatriz Williams has written a poignant and beautifully voiced novel of deeply human characters entangled by morally complex issues—of privilege, class, and the female experience—inside worlds brought shimmering to life.

Brooke Hastings is ready to end her six-week affair. Gideon Ross is charming but not worth throwing away her marriage for. So, she breaks it off, hoping Gideon will understand. He doesn’t. Gideon insists that he and Brooke are meant to be together. Finally, he backs off, but not before issuing a promise that he’ll never let her go. Six years later, Brooke wants to believe it’s all behind her. Gideon has vanished. But Brooke is worried. And maybe she’s right to be. Because Gideon is a man who keeps his promises.

Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. But when William writes back, Hannah’s interest in the case goes from curiosity to obsession. When a fifth woman is discovered murdered, the jury has no choice but to find William not guilty, and Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release. The two of them quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss. Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder.

Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she’s gotten rejection after rejection. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again, under a man’s name. Imagine her surprise when it becomes a publicity darling. Only she needs a man to play her alter ego Zane Remington. Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely looks the part of a survivalist. But Chris has a few secrets of his own. When Daphne’s book becomes a bestselling sensation and they’re forced to go on tour together, Daphne finds herself wondering if this city‑boy geek is exactly what she needs to push her to claim her dreams.

On the way to an annual book club retreat, Eileen Merriweather, a Literature professor’s car unexpectedly breaks down, and she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel of her favorite romance series. It’s perfect but trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story. Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending. Except there is a character in Eloraton, a grumpy bookstore owner, that does not want her finishing this book. Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

It’s the opening night of The Manor, and no expense has been spared. The infinity pool sparkles and crystal pouches for guests’ healing have been placed in the Seaside Cottages and Woodland Hutches. Everyone is wearing linen. But under the burning midsummer sun, darkness stirs. Old friends and enemies circulate among the guests. Just outside the Manor’s immaculately kept grounds, an ancient forest bristles with secrets. And the Sunday morning of opening weekend, the local police are called. It all began with a secret. Now the past has crashed the party. And it’ll end in murder.

The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home and he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul de sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?

As a young couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. Eve lets them in but as soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

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The Ocean is Calling with these 9 Beach Reads

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 Rocked by tragedy, Annie Marlow heads to the one place that makes her happy: Oceanside in the Pacific Northwest. Once there, Annie begins to restore her broken spirit, thanks in part to Keaton to whom Annie feels most drawn. His peaceful nature offers her comfort, and the two begin to grow closer. And when the opportunity of a lifetime lands in her lap, she is torn between the excitement of a new journey toward success and the safe and secure arms of the haven — and the man — she’s come to call home.

There’s a lot happening on this little island at Christmas. No one knows why Dixie’s son is here, on Christmas Day, no less. And he doesn’t look happy. Bookstore owner Dixie is keeping a big secret that will shake up everyone around her. Julie’s daughter, Colleen, is coming home for a visit, but she’s not alone. Janine makes a new friend, but nobody is thrilled about it. Julie and Dawson question their budding relationship. Will they move forward or decide that being friends is the best way to go? 

After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did it: Tanya’s ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sister’s warnings: “If anything bad happens to me – it’s Evan. Promise me you’ll take Maya and run. Promise me.” So Letty grabs her sister’s Mercedes and hits the road with her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where?

Five years ago, Cass barely survived a brutal attack that left her family dead. Now a scuba diving instructor in Thailand, she has spent years trying to build a new, anonymous life for herself as one of the Permanents, a group of expats who have claimed the beautiful Thailand destination as their own. But her dark past is about to catch up with her when Lucy, one of Cass’ dive students, turns up dead and she starts getting messages from someone who has discovered who she really is.

In a lonely cottage on the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of a sun-drenched summer of his youth, and of the killer that stalked the small New England town. And of the terrible tragedy that forever bonded him with his friends Nat and Harper in unknowable ways. Decades later, Wilder returns to the town in an attempt to recount that summer’s events in his memoirs. But as he writes, Wilder begins to fear his grip on the truth is fading and that the book may be writing itself.

 New York heiress Catherine Dohan seemingly has it all but it’s a lie. As soon as the Morro Castle leaves port, Catherine’s past returns with a vengeance and threatens her life. Joining forces with a charismatic jewel thief, Catherine must discover who wants her dead–and why. Elena Palacio is a dead woman. Or so everyone thinks. After a devastating betrayal, Elena’s journey on the Morro Castle is her last hope. Burning for revenge, her return to Havana is a chance to right her wrongs.

When twelve-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at Camp Chickawah, they have an instant connection. But everything falls apart when they learn they’re not just best friends-they’re also half-sisters. Confused and betrayed, their friendship instantly crumbles. Fifteen years later when their father dies suddenly, Kat and Blake discover he’s left them the family beach house. The two sisters are instantly at odds. They clash as Blake’s renovation plans conflict with Kat’s creative vision, and each sister finds herself drawn into a summer romance. As the weeks pass, the two women realize the most difficult project they face this summer will be learning how to become sisters.

The narrator is Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who, soon after his wife’s death, has gone back to the seaside town where he spent his summer holidays as a child — a retreat from the grief, anger, and numbness of his life without her. But it is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well — heeled vacationing family with whom he experienced the strange suddeness of both love and death for the first time. The seductive mother; the imperious father; the twins — Chloe, fiery and forthright, and Myles, silent and expressionless — in whose mysterious connection Max became profoundly entangled, each of them a part of the “barely bearable raw immediacy” of his childhood memories.

Busy flower shop manager Evita Machado can’t wait to get to Nantucket. With a bad breakup behind her, relaxing at the shore with her folks sounds like the sure cure for heartache. But when they arrive at the quaint rose-covered cottage, another group has already put down stakes: the Hatfields. Ryan Hatfield was Evita’s former crush from high school, but their business rival moms refused to let them date. Once it’s clear there’s been a double-booking, Ryan’s mom digs in her heels, meaning to stay. Both sides tepidly agree to share the luxury accommodations by dividing the cozy space. Can Evita and Ryan keep the peace between the warring factions while fostering a growing chemistry between the two of them?”

Enjoy these Books in the Great Outdoors

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In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world and the hatred and misinformation that became a daily presence on social media. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard. But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater—an opportunity to connect to nature in a meaningful way, and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.

Nick Offerman has always felt a particular affection for the Land of the Free—not just for the people and their purported ideals but to the actual land the bedrock, the topsoil, and everything in between that generates the health of your local watershed. In his new book, Nick takes a humorous, inspiring, and elucidating trip to America’s trails, farms, and frontier to examine the people who inhabit the land, what that has meant to them and us, and to the land itself, both historically and currently.

This magical journey into the world of the octopus will reveal how the large and capable brain of these creatures occupies their whole body–not just their heads—and they can actually adjust their genetic makeup to respond to the demands of the environment. It will allow readers to watch them change shape and color in order to camouflage themselves more effectively than any other species. And it will divulge how octopus mothers give their all in order to bring forth a new generation.

From the mountains to the ocean shores, from the wetlands to the deserts, North America teems with flora and fauna in delicately balanced ecosystems found nowhere else on Earth. With this book in hand, you will understand the language of nature and see those wild places with new eyes. This volume celebrates a tradition of knowledge established by the Nature Study Guild. For more than sixty years, the Guild’s pocket guidebooks have helped hikers, campers, foragers, and explorers navigate the great outdoors.

Examining the latest epiphanies in botanical research, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles among the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of ongoing discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is. We need plants to survive. But what do they need us for—if at all? An eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants—and our own place—in the natural world.

Humans have given meanings and stories to plants and flowers for thousands of years, from myths of Greek Gods who pecked out the eyes of anyone who moved the sacred Peony plant, to 19th century Victorian tales that saw flowers foreshadow death. With details on the origins of the folklore behind each plant, and a beautiful ritual to help you better connect with the teaching each plant has to offer, this is the perfect book for foragers, gardeners, and budding horticulturists looking to develop their knowledge of plants beyond the exterior.

Torbjørn Ekelund dreams of spending more time in nature, but he’s so busy with city life that he has no desire to travel far. So, he hatches a plan. Ekelund decides to leave the city after work and camp near a tiny pond in the forest. The next morning, he returns to work as usual. He does this once a month for a full year. What happens over the course of that year is nothing short of transformative. Evoking Henry David Thoreau, A Year in the Woods asks if the secret to communing with nature lies in small rituals and reflection.

Connecting with green spaces, trees, and plants can lift our spirits, lower our stress levels, and relax our brains – in short, playing outside is good for adults, too. Forest School for Grown-Ups is here to help. A gorgeous and comprehensive guide to all things outdoors for anyone who loves being in and interacting with nature, readers will learn how to make a rope sing, go forest bathing, read flowers, build a campfire, and make a forest potion. From practical tips and how-tos to forest folklore, there’s something for everyone.

Frankie O’Neill and Anne Ryan would seem to have nothing in common. Frankie is a lonely ornithologist struggling to salvage her dissertation on the spotted owl following a rift with her advisor. Anne is an Irish musician far from home and family, raising her five-year-old, Aiden, who refuses to speak. When Frankie finds an injured baby crow in the forest, little does she realize that the charming bird will bring all three lost souls—Frankie, Anne, and Aiden—together on a journey toward hope, healing, and rediscovering joy.

Dive into Summer with these Beach Reads

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There aren’t enough labeled glass containers to contain the mess that is Ali Morris’s life. She’s a professional organizer whose pantry is a disgrace. No one is more surprised than Ali when the first time she takes off her wedding ring, she meets someone. Ethan smiles at Ali like he likes what he sees. The last thing Ali needs is to make her life messier, but there’s no harm in a little Summer Romance. Is there?

Four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds. Soon after moving into their shared dorm, they become fast friends. As their college years fly by, their bond intensifies and the four become inseparable. But as graduation nears, a pact is made to be there for each other in their time of need. Years later, when Hannah calls on her closest friends, they stay true to their promise and agree to embark on a journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance.

Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other. Until a body is discovered, face down off the side of the boardwalk.

Poppy and Alex. They have nothing in common and somehow, they are the very best of friends. And every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since. But she decides to convince him to take one more vacation together. Miraculously, he agrees. Now she has a week to fix everything. What could possibly go wrong?

Lux McAllister wants to leave Hawaii and travel the world after a family tragedy. When her boyfriend, Nico, and two women named Brittany and Amma hire them to sail to a remote island in the South Pacific, Lux jumps at the chance. The island is known for its shipwrecks and rumored murders, but Lux and her friends are excited to disconnect from the real world. However, they soon discover that they are not alone on the island and that things may not go as planned.

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

When Kathleen Deane’s husband, Tom, tells her he’s no longer happy with his life and their marriage, Kathleen is confused. They’ve been married thirty years. Who said anything about being happy? But with Tom off finding himself, Kathleen starts to think about what she wants. And her thoughts lead her to a small beach community on the east coast, a town called Whitbey. As Kathleen gets more and more involved in the town’s politics, she realizes that Whitbey may not be a fairytale, but it just might be exactly what she needed.

The world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the last island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. Until one of the scientists is found stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island. If the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of what happened the night before. And the clock is ticking.

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Evvie rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside. Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher, is wrestling with a terrible injury. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button. When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more.

New Audiobooks to Enjoy in the Libby App

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After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them. The siblings must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.

Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn’t be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love.

Summer Sullivan, the youngest founding member of Elm Creek Quilts, has spent the last two years pursuing a master’s degree in history at the University of Chicago. Her unexpected return home to the celebrated quilter’s retreat is met with delight but also concern from her mother, Gwen; her best friend, Sarah; master quilter Sylvia; and her other colleagues—and rightly so. Stymied by writer’s block, Summer hasn’t finished her thesis, and she can’t graduate until she does.

Summer, 1939. The glittering Côte d’Azur is having a particularly brilliant season, as the world’s wealthiest vacationers collide with Hollywood’s illustrious movie stars for the first-ever film festival on the French Riviera. Into this hothouse playground comes an American named Annabel Faucon. Having left a dead-end job and a broken heart back in New York, she’s escaped to a summer stint at the fabulous Grand Hotel where her uncle is the manager.

Erebus Resort, offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, and giant sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.

Joe Leaphorn may be long retired from the Navajo Tribal Police, but his detective skills are still sharp, honed by his work as a private detective. His experience will be essential to solve a compelling new finding the birth parents of a woman who was raised by a bilagáana family but believes she is Diné based on one solid clue, an old photograph with a classic Navajo child’s blanket. Leaphorn discovers that his client’s adoption was questionable, and her adoptive family not what they seem.

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other. Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.’s home, and she and Henerey vanish.

Los Angeles, 1932: Lulu Wong, star of the silver screen and the pride of Chinatown, has a face known to practically anyone, especially to the Chow sisters—May, Gemma, and Peony—Lulu’s former classmates and neighbors. So the girls instantly know it’s Lulu whose body they discover one morning in an out-of-the-way stable, far from the Beverly Hills mansion where she moved once her fame skyrocketed. The sisters suspect Lulu’s death is the result of foul play, but the LAPD—known for being corrupt to the core—doesn’t seem motivated to investigate.

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity. Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life.

Nine Books to Read Before Watching the New Movie

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When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil?An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn’t so wicked after all.  

Penelope Featherington has secretly adored her best friend’s brother, Colin Bridgerton, for what feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching him from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him, until she stumbles across his deepest secret…and fears she doesn’t know him at all. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide…is she his biggest threat – or his promise of a happy ending?

One moonlit night, fourteen-year-old Reena Virk went to join friends at a party and never returned home. In this “tour de force of crime reportage,” acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey takes us into the hidden world of the seven teenage girls—and boy—accused of a savage murder. As she follows the investigation and trials, Godfrey reveals the startling truth about the unlikely killers. 

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening with his family, when a masked abductor knocks him unconscious. He awakens to find himself surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And he is not a college professor, but a celebrated genius. How can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answer is a journey that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself as he battles a seemingly unbeatable foe.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy Delaney’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaney’s are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted. Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. So when she feels a spark with a neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, Lily can’t get him out of her head. As questions about her new relationship with Ryle overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

After Englishman John Blackthorne is lost at sea, he awakens in Nippon. Thrust into the closed society that is seventeenth-century Japan, Blackthorne must negotiate not only a foreign people, but also his own definitions of morality, truth, and freedom. As internal political strife and a clash of cultures lead to seemingly inevitable conflict, Blackthorne’s loyalty is tested by both passion and loss, and he is torn between two worlds.

Nine Must Read Books for Mental Health Awareness Month

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After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults.

Public awareness of mental illness has been transformed in recent years, but our understanding of how to define it has yet to catch up. A narrative has taken hold that a mental health crisis has been building among young people. In this profoundly sensitive and constructive book, psychologist Lucy Foulkes argues that the crisis is one of ignorance as much as illness. Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the scientific and clinical literature, Foulkes explains what is known about mental health problems.

With Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now she employs the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and the surprising lessons these states of mind teach us about creativity, compassion, leadership, spirituality, mortality, and love. Cain shows how a bittersweet state of mind is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain.

As Melissa Bond raises her infant daughter and a special-needs one-year-old son, she suffers from unbearable insomnia, sleeping an hour or less each night. She loses her job as a journalist, and her relationship with her husband grows distant. Her doctor casually prescribes benzodiazepines—and increases her dosage regularly. Benzodiazepine addiction is not well studied, and few experts know how to help Melissa as she begins the months-long process of tapering off the pills without suffering debilitating, potentially deadly consequences.

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.

Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them–in order to achieve work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do “healthy boundaries” really mean–and how can we successfully express our needs, say “no,” and be assertive without offending others? Licensed counselor, sought-after relationship expert, and one of the most influential therapists on Instagram Nedra Glover Tawwab demystifies this complex topic for today’s world.

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a breakup, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered. Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times.

Is there just one “you”? We’ve been taught to believe we have a single identity, and to feel fear or shame when we can’t control the inner voices that don’t match the ideal of who we think we should be. Yet Dr. Richard Schwartz’s research now challenges this “mono-mind” theory. “All of us are born with many sub-minds—or parts,” says Dr. Schwartz. “These parts are not imaginary or symbolic. They are individuals who exist as an internal family within us—and the key to health and happiness is to honor, understand, and love every part.”

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD–a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies.

Nine Nonfiction Titles to Enjoy in May

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Booksellers and librarians are superheroes, saving lives every single day. Here are their amazing, inspiring true stories as told to the greatest storyteller of our time, James Patterson. To be a bookseller or librarian…You have to play detective. Be a treasure hunter. A matchmaker. An advocate. A visionary. A person who creates “book joy” by pulling a book from a shelf, handing it to someone and saying, “You’ve got to read this. You’re going to love it.”

People love to keep score. Managers keep score of a range of business market share, revenue, profit margin, growth rate. In our personal lives, social media has us keeping score by likes and followers. These external scores are outcome-driven and serve as proof of our success—money, fame, material possessions, wins—but this constant chase for more validation often leaves us feeling exhausted and empty. In The Score That Matters, Ryan Hawk and Brook Cupps show that the internal score is what matters most—it reveals whether we are living in alignment with our purpose and values.

It’s often said that China is in a cold war with America. The reality is far the war is hot, and the body count is one-sided. China is killing Americans and working aggres­sively to maximize the carnage while our leaders remain passive and, in some cases, compliant. Why? If anyone could crack the code, it’s the renowned nonpartisan investigator Peter Schweizer. Schweizer’s previous three number one New York Times bestsellers sent shock waves through official Wash­ington, sparking FBI investigations and congres­sional probes that continue to this day.

Do you think mainstream America needs to find its voice? If so, you’re not alone. The country is under attack by extremists at the fringes who put ideology before sanity and stoke division for their own gain. They are trying to rob America of its common sense and deny empirical truths, and we’re all suffering the consequences. In We’ve Got How You Can Stand Strong for America’s Soul and Sanity, Dr. Phil employs his signature no-nonsense approach to analyze America’s cultural crisis and offers strategies to restore and support our country’s collective mental health.

Our current definition of “productivity” is broken. It pushes us to treat busyness as a proxy for useful effort, leading to impossibly lengthy task lists and ceaseless meetings. We’re overwhelmed by all we have to do and on the edge of burnout, left to decide between giving into soul-sapping hustle culture or rejecting ambition altogether. But are these really our only choices? In this timely and provocative book, Cal Newport harnesses the wisdom of these traditional knowledge workers to radically transform our modern jobs.

Menopause and perimenopause are still a black box to most doctors, leaving patients exasperated as they grapple with symptoms ranging from hot flashes to insomnia to brain fog. As a leading neuroscientist and women’s brain health specialist, Dr. Mosconi unravels these mysteries by revealing how menopause doesn’t just impact the ovaries—it’s a hormonal show in which the brain takes center stage. To conquer these challenges successfully, Dr. Mosconi brings us the latest approaches.

In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman perished during a barn fire. The coroner’s natural causes. Ida’s husband, Eli, was never considered a suspect. But when he eventually rejected the faith and took his son, Danny, with him, murder followed. What really happened to Ida? The dubious circumstances of the tragic blaze were willfully ignored and Eli’s shifting narratives disregarded. Could Eli’s subsequent cross-country journey of death—including that of his own son—have been prevented if just one person came forward?

Aged just seven, Suzanne Heywood set sail with her parents and brother on a three-year voyage around the world. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal schooling. No one else knew where they were most of the time and no state showed any interest in what was happening to the children. Suzanne fought her parents, longing to return to England and to education and stability. This memoir covers her astonishing upbringing.

What happens when we can’t joke about some of the most important stuff in life? In a 2019 study, 40% of people reported censoring themselves out of fear that voicing their views would alienate them from the people they care about most.  In You Can’t Joke About That, Kat Timpf shows why much of the way we talk about sensitive subjects is wrong. We’ve created all the wrong rules. We push ourselves into unnecessary conflicts when we should feel like we’re all in this together.

New Fiction Novels Available at the Library

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Andy’s story wasn’t meant to turn out this way. Living out of a suitcase in his best friends’ spare room, waiting for his career as a stand-up comedian to finally take off, he struggles to process the life-ruining end of his relationship with the only woman he’s ever truly loved. As he tries to solve the seemingly unsolvable mystery of his broken relationship, he contends with career catastrophe, social media paranoia, a rapidly dwindling friendship group and the growing suspicion that, at 35, he really should have figured this all out by now.

Frank Culhane may be the wealthy patriarch of one of Texas’ most prestigious families, but his party girl daughter, Jasmine, is only interested in the money the ranch brings in—and the cowboys. Until the day she heads to the stables in search of their hot horse trainer and instead discovers her daddy’s body in their prize stallion’s box stall. Roper’s rodeo career was cut short by an injury. Now, he’s hungry to compete in reining events, like the prized forthcoming Run for a Million.

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encyclopedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.  Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage.

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her four young children and her closest friend are left to struggle without the woman who centered their lives. Bill Brown finds himself overwhelmed, and Annie’s best friend Annemarie is lost to old bad habits without Annie’s support. It is Annie’s daughter, Ali, forced to try to care for her younger brothers and even her father, who manages to maintain some semblance of their former lives for them all, and who confronts the complicated truths of adulthood.

Food critic Tempèsta Luddington has always felt like the odd person out in her family, ever since she lost her beloved mother at the tender age of thirteen. When her workaholic father passes fifteen years later, Tempèsta is not surprised that the majority of the considerable family money will pass to her dutiful younger brother, Wal. Still, she is left a modest remembrance from her mother, and for the first time Tempèsta has a world of choices before her.

For centuries, generations of Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt. Violet Everly was a child when her mother left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer.

The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages. Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next.

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work. Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Jack Lee is a white lawyer from Freeman County, Virginia, who has never done anything to push back against racism, until he decides to represent Jerome Washington, a Black man charged with brutally killing an elderly and wealthy white couple. Doubting his decision, Lee fears that his legal skills may not be enough to prevail in a case where the odds are already stacked against both him and his client. And he quickly finds himself out of his depth when he realizes that what is at stake is far greater than the outcome of a murder trial.

New Thrillers and Mysteries to Enjoy in May

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Jack Queen has been exonerated and freed from prison thanks to retired LAPD officer Cato Hightower. But when guilt gnaws at Jack, he “I actually did it.” To which Hightower “Yeah, no kidding.” You see, the ex-cop has a special job in mind for the ex-con… A prolific serial killer who disappeared forty years ago, who is only now emerging from hibernation when the conditions are just right. And this time, the California Bear is not content to hunt in the shadows.

TJ Devlin is the charming disappointment in the prominent Devlin family, all of whom are lawyers at their highly successful firm—except him. After a stint in prison and rehab for alcoholism, TJ can’t get hired anywhere except at the firm, in a make-work job with the title of investigator. But one night, TJ’s world turns upside down after his older brother John confesses that he just murdered one of the clients, an accountant he’d confronted with proof of embezzlement.

Gaia is dying. That, at least, is what Dr. Lionel Scott believes. A renowned expert in tropical and infectious diseases, Scott has witnessed the devastating impact of illness and turmoil at critical scale. Society as it exists is untenable, and the direct link to Earth’s death spiral; population levels are out of control and people have allowed disarray and disorder to run rampant. While most are concerned about deadly disease, Scott knows that it is truly humanity itself that will destroy Gaia.

Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding the missing persons that the rest of the world has forgotten, but even she couldn’t have anticipated this latest request—to locate the long-lost sister of a female serial killer facing execution in three weeks’ time.  Kaylee Pierson had confessed from the very beginning, waived all appeals. Despite the media’s chronicling of her tragic circumstances—the childhood spent with a violent father—no one could find sympathy for “the Beautiful Butcher” who had led eighteen men home from bars before viciously slitting their throats.

Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined. Eve’s grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death…and it’s coming for her.

Crissy Dowling has created a world that suits her perfectly. She passes her days by the pool in a private cabana, she splurges on ice cream but never gains an ounce, and each evening she transforms into a Princess, performing her musical cabaret inspired by the life of the late Diana Spencer. A riveting tale of identity, obsession, fintech, and high-tech mobsters, The Princess of Las Vegas is an addictive, wildly original thriller from one of our most extraordinary storytellers.

If, like Kane, you’re a Denied Access Area spy for the CIA, then boundaries have no meaning. Your function is to go in, do whatever is required, and get out again—by whatever means necessary. You know when to run, when to hide—and when to shoot. But some places don’t play by the rules. Some places are too dangerous, even for a man of Kane’s experience. The badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan meet are such a place—a place where violence is the only way to survive.

Piracy costs the movie and music industry billions. No one has been able to stop it. But that won’t stop Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck. His latest client, Imani Nichols, is a Grammy-winning popstar whose career has skyrocketed. Despite her success, she’s the most underpaid superstar on the planet because of an onerous record contract she signed as a teenager with her now ex-husband Shaky Nichols, who has made himself rich off her royalties.

You’re arrested for her murder. You tell the police that you only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you talked her down. You’ve got nothing to do with this tragedy. You’re clearly being framed. So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? And why doesn’t your lawyer seem to believe you? It soon becomes obvious that you’re keeping secrets. But who are you trying to protect? And why?