Books

Party of Liars

"A lavish, Texas-sized Sweet Sixteen turns deadly in this twisty, pulse-pounding new novel — serving up a fresh take on a classic locked-room whodunnit. Let the festivities begin...Today is Sophie Matthews’s sixteenth birthday party, an exclusive black-tie bash in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, where secrets are as deep-rooted as the sprawling live oaks. Sophie’s dad has spared no expense, and his renovated cliffside mansion—once thought haunted and shuttered for years from outsiders—is now hosting the event of the season. Then, just before the candles on the three-tiered red velvet cake are blown out, a body falls from the balcony onto the starlit dance floor below.It’s a killer guest list . . . DANI: Sophie’s new stepmother who’s been plagued by self-doubt ever since the birth of her own baby girlÓRLAITH: the superstitious Irish nanny who senses a looming danger in this cavernous houseMIKAYLA: the birthday girl’s best friend who is not nearly as meek as the popular kids assumeKIM: the cunning ex-wife who has a grudge she can’t let go of . . . Everyone is invited in. Not everyone will get out alive."My favorite kind of thriller - fun, twisty, fast-paced, and populated by characters who feel so real you'll want to invite them (well, some of them) to your next party." - New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins"I couldn't put it down!" - New York Times bestselling author Nina Simon"Explodes from page one." - Bestselling author Amanda Eyre Ward"This is the thriller of the summer." - Bestselling author Katie Gutierrez"

The Art of Vanishing

"A stunningly original love story between a museum employee and the man in a masterpiece hanging on the walls—a breathtaking debut about time, art, and the enduring power of love. “This wildly inventive, deeply moving novel blurs the line between art and those who behold it.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name Something magical is happening inside this museum. . . . Jean’s life is the same day in and day out. Frozen in time by his painter father, the legendary Henri Matisse, Jean observes the ebb and flow of museum guests as they take in the works of his father and other masters like Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani. But his world takes a mesmerizing turn when Claire, a new museum employee, enters his life. Night after night, Claire moves through the gallery where Jean’s painting hangs, mopping the floors, talking softly to herself to stem her loneliness, and gazing admiringly at the masterpieces above. The alluring man in the corner of the Matisse—is he watching her? Why does she feel a deepening pull to him, like he can see her truest self, her most profound secrets? Did he just move? In an extraordinary twist of fate, Claire discovers she can step through the frame of Jean’s painting and into a bygone era, a lush, verdant snapshot of family life in France in the throes of the First World War. She and Jean begin a seemingly impossible affair, falling in love against the backdrop of the gallery’s other paintings come to life—glittering parties, exhilarating horse races, and windswept beach bluffs—which they can move through together and where Claire is seemingly the only outside visitor, alone in possession of this gift. But as their happiness is threatened by challenges both inside and outside the museum, Claire and Jean find themselves in a fight to preserve the love they’ve hardly dared to dream of. Will their extraordinary connection defy the confines of reality, or will the forces conspiring against them shatter their carefully curated happiness?"

A Forbidden Alchemy

"Australian BookTok star Stacey McEwan’s stunning new slow-burn romantasy duology traces a fated pair who stumble upon a world-changing secret in youth and are catapulted into a violent class war in adulthood, finding each other amidst love, loss, and devasting betrayals. Nina Harrow and Patrick Colson first meet in adolescence, brought in from their disenfranchised mining towns to glittering Belavere City to be tested for magical abilities. Those who pass will train to become Artisans, wielding powerful elemental magic to carry out Belavere's greatest ambitions. Nina wants nothing more than to escape her circumstances and attend the Artisan School, while Patrick only wants to return home to his family of Craftsmen, who use their extraordinary physical strength in the idium mines that keep Belavere running. The two accidentally discover a devastating secret: that Artisans are not born, but chosen. They part ways without telling another soul. In the years that follow, a Craftsman revolution begins, and the two find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing war. Nina, now an elite Artisan with the extremely rare ability to charm earth, soon abdicates the fight entirely, devastated by the loss of her found family. She has long become accustomed to life on the run when she is captured by Patrick's rebellion contingent. It turns out he has far from forgotten her, and he asks for her help in a mission that will change the tides against Belavere City. She reluctantly agrees, struggling to ignore the sparks between them. But when Nina's first love reappears, asking her to betray Patrick and spy on his cause for the Artisans, she must decide whether her loyalties lie with the order that raised her or the one person she knows she can trust."

The Curse That Binds (Standard Edition)

"From the author of the Bargainer series comes the prequel to Bewitched. Before Selene Bowers, there was Roxilana. The Empress. This is her and Memnon's origin story: of blood, bonds, and betrayal."

Let's Make a Scene

"The companion novel to Laura Wood’s “excellent, unputdownable adult debut” (Library Journal, starred review) Under Your Spell follows Theo Eliott’s best friend Cynthie Taylor as she’s pulled back into a fake PR relationship with Jack Turner-Jones, the one costar she swore she’d never work with again. When Cynthie Taylor gets her first real acting job, starring in a small British movie, she is over the moon. There is only one problem…Cynthie’s arrogant and annoyingly handsome costar Jack hates her, and the feeling is definitely mutual. While they may be at war behind the scenes, their on-screen chemistry is palpable, and the studio sees an opportunity—have the two young stars fake a romance that will charm fans and draw crowds. Thirteen years later, Cynthie and Jack have successfully kept their promise to stay far away from one another, until a surprising offer comes to make a sequel to the cult classic that launched their careers. But there’s a catch: they must also rekindle their pretend relationship…and this time there’s a documentary crew following their every move. Cynthie and Jack both desperately need this film to work, but can two ex-rivals ever really trust each other? And what happens when the roles they’re playing start to feel all too real?"

The Satisfaction Café

"How do we live so that we are satisfied? How can people connect during moments of loneliness? This is the story of Joan Liang, a woman who moves across the world to America, and in trying to answer these questions builds a wildly original life.Joan’s life is a series of unexpected events: she never thought she would live in California, nor did she expect her first marriage to implode—especially as quickly and spectacularly as it did. She definitely did not expect to fall in love with an older, wealthy American man and become his fourth wife and mother to his youngest children. Joan and her children grow older, and one day she makes a drastic change: she opens the Satisfaction Café, a place where customers can find connection through conversation. With humor and grace, Joan creates a space for meaningful relationships and constructs a lasting legacy. Vivid, comic, and profoundly moving, The Satisfaction Café is a novel about found family, the joy and loneliness that come with age, and how we can seek satisfaction at any stage of life. This is a novel of tremendous pleasures: sentences that teem with rich observations, wonderful plotting, and, in Joan, a protagonist for the ages."

How Freaking Romantic

"In this sharply funny solo debut, an aspiring lawyer is forced to work alongside the opposing counsel in her best friend’s divorce case, which leads to the biggest irreconcilable difference of all: love. Beatrice Nilsson is what some might call “feisty” (those who love her) and others “combative” (those who don’t). But no matter what you call her, she’s a good lawyer and an even better friend. So when the marriage of her two closest pals ends in divorce, Bea picks a side and storms the office of attorney Nathan Asher to tell him exactly what he can do with his alimony petition. Unfortunately, what should end with a few choice words soon spirals into uncharted territory when Nate shows up at her NYU Law office a few days later as a newly-minted adjunct professor—and her new colleague. Bea still hates Nathan, of course. But between weekly meetings and networking events, walks around Washington Square Park and late-night pizza, that hate begins to feel a lot like something else. And as uncomfortable truths emerge about the divorce that started it all, she might have to choose between her friends’ happily ever after and her own for the very first time."

Onyx Storm

"After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves―her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find―the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath. The Empyrean series is best enjoyed in order. Reading Order: Book #1 Fourth Wing Book #2 Iron Flame Book #3 Onyx Storm"

Archive of Unknown Universes

"From the critically acclaimed author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, a piercing debut novel following two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war—a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love. "Beautiful." —LA Times, A Must-Read Book for Summer “An important voice in U.S. fiction. Ruben Reyes Jr. is a wonder.” — Héctor Tobar Cambridge, 2018. Ana and Luis’s relationship is on the rocks, despite their many similarities, including their mothers who both fled El Salvador during the war. In her search for answers, and against her best judgement, Ana uses The Defractor, an experimental device that allows users to peek into alternate versions of their lives. What she sees leads her and Luis on a quest through Havana and San Salvador to uncover the family histories they are desperate to know, eager to learn if what might have been could fix what is. Havana, 1978. The Salvadoran war is brewing, and Neto, a young revolutionary with a knack for forging government papers, meets Rafael at a meeting for the People's Revolutionary Army. The two form an intense and forbidden love, shedding their fake names and revealing themselves to each other inside the covert world of their activism. When their work separates them, they begin to exchange weekly letters, but soon, as the devastating war rages on, forces beyond their control threaten to pull them apart forever. Ruben Reyes Jr.’s debut novel is an epic, genre-bending journey through inverted worlds—one where war ends with a peace treaty, and one where it ends with a decisive victory by the Salvadoran government. What unfolds is a stunning story of displacement and belonging, of loss and love. It’s both a daring imagining of what might have been and a powerful reckoning of our past."

Don't Let Him In

"From #1 New York Times bestseller Lisa Jewell, an author “at the very top of her game” (Lucy Foley)—three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.“Who are you? Who are you really?” Nick Radcliffe is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. He’s just what Nina Swann needed in her life after her husband’s unexpected death. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling… “Because there are things that don’t make sense, and I’ve been so patient, so very patient…” Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn't right. “You know that’s mad, don’t you? I’m your husband. We know everything there is to know about each other.” Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever."