Week of September 27, 2021
MUST HATE DOGS
Do you hate dogs? Only want to talk about yourself? Is having a sense of humor something you’ve never been accused of? Think eating for pleasure is a complete waste of time? Agree that tipping is for suckers? Then you’re the date for me.
Dixon Beckett is the kind of guy who loves his mama, treats women right, and never ever wants to fall in love again. That’s why he’ll do anything to win a bet to be the last single man standing by Christmas.
He’s got a plan, too. Create the most no-good, horrible, very bad dating profile in existence. Only someone actually responds to his ad…
The rules say he has to go on six dates with the first (or in his case, only) person who answersโeven if that person is Fiona Hartigan: Hater of dogs, non-lover of any delicious food, and zero sense of humor.
But something feels off about this pariah. In fact, Dixon is almost positive Fiona is just pretending to be awful. Pretending to be the most horrible date in existence. And she’s most definitely pretending to not be as interested in him as he is in her.
The more Dixon Beckett starts to unravel the mystery of why Fiona answered his ad in the first place, the more he starts considering the most vile, awful, terrible idea ever…falling in love.
She suspects everyone of everything. Sometimes she gets it right.
Jane Ladling is the sole proprietor of her familyโs landlocked cemetery, Garden of Memories. Sheโs responsible for the, er, guests, but thereโs a slight problem. Well, besides her moody cat, Rolex, and her sixty-two-year-old best friendโs unrequited crush on the sheriff. An extra body now rests in Plot #39.
Enter Special Agent Conrad Ryan. Heโs gruff, heโs gorgeous, and oh, yes, he kind of suspects her of murder. Whatโs an innocentโand very single, not that it mattersโgirl to do? Solve the crime herself. Even if she must turn the small town of Aurelian Hills, Georgia upside down.
The only line she wonโt cross? Falling for the first man to make her heart flutter. Nope, not happening. Not even a little.
So Much for Peace During the Holidays
Anna Albertini has her hands full during the holiday season. Her boyfriend Aiden is back in town after being undercover across the country for the last three months, and his sudden over-protectiveness is a little too much. In addition, Nonnaโs latest matchmaking scheme has been so far thwarted by the two most stubborn candidates alive, and Nonna is out of patience and bringing out the big guns. Anna is forced to both protect her sister and run interference, when sheโd like to jump in and find a happily ever after for everyone instead.
To add to her already hectic life, her life-long stalker is about to make a move and doesnโt hide that frightening fact, although Anna is more than ready for him. In fact, sheโs willing to draw him out to finally bring him downโregardless of the consequences. Finally, Santa has been arrested and charged for murder, needing a good lawyer. Who would arrest Santa? Anna canโt let this stand. Itโs a good thing Christmas is a time of magic and miracles, because sheโs going to need one.
The specter of graduation looms large as Naomi Novikโs groundbreaking,ย New York Timesย bestselling trilogy continuesย in the stunning sequel toย A Deadly Education.
In Wisdom, Shelter.ย Thatโs the official motto of the Scholomance. I suppose you could even argue that itโs trueโonly the wisdom is hard to come by, so the shelterโs rather scant.
Our beloved school does its best to devour all its studentsโbut now that Iโve reached my senior year and have actually won myself a handful of allies, itโs suddenly developed a very particular craving for me. And even if I somehow make it through the endless waves of maleficaria that it keeps throwing at me in between grueling homework assignments, I havenโt any idea how my allies and I are going to make it through the graduation hall alive.
Unless, of course, I finally accept my foretold destiny of dark sorcery and destruction. That would certainly let me sail straight out of here. The course of wisdom, surely.
But Iโm not giving inโnot to the mals, not to fate, and especially not to the Scholomance. Iโm going to get myself and my friends out of this hideous place for goodโeven if itโs theย lastย thing I do.
With keen insight and mordant humor, Novik reminds us that sometimes it is not enough to rewrite the rulesโsometimes, you need to toss out the entire rulebook.
The magic of the Scholomance trilogy will continue in 2022
From the author ofย The Longest Rideย andย The Returnย comes a novel about the enduring legacy of first love, and the decisions that haunt us forever.
1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at sixteen to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolinaโs Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind . . . until she met Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point, Bryce showed her how much there was to love about the wind-swept beach townโand introduced her to photography, a passion that would define the rest of her life.
By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him.
As they count down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlierโand the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.
With travel photos and a special letter from the Author.
I havenโt seen him in over a decade, but Joshua Luca can still get to me. And I hate it.
At twenty-nine, Iโm a doctor and Iโve traveled the world, but just theย thoughtย of him has me sliding my sweaty palms down my jeans and wishing I could steady my racing heartbeat.
Joshua was an almost obsession until, at seventeen, he cost me my future. In one night, I grew up and let go of my silly crush.
My infatuation for Joshua is dead and buried. Forever.
It doesnโt matter that heโs my new roommate.
Or that he still has that same sexy smile.
I barely notice how, despite his billions, heโs the kindest man I know.
Or that when he touches me, a thousand tiny fireworks explode all over my body.
Iโm completely over Joshua Luca.
Mr. Park Lane is a stand-alone novel.
Heโll do anything for his familyโฆ
Donovan โDonnyโ Steel is on a partnership track with a major Denver law firm. He loves his city career and his luxurious downtown loft, and life is going just how he planned itโฆuntil his mother, the city attorney for his hometown of Snow Creek, Colorado, asks him to move back and work for her when her assistant retires. Mom asks? Donny goes. Because heโll do anything for the family who took him in twenty-five years ago. The fact that he can pick up where he left off with gorgeous Callie Pike is simply a fringe benefit.
Caroline โCallieโ Pike was looking forward to finally beginning law school at age twenty-six, but the western slope fire that destroyed most of her familyโs vineyards put that plan on hold. At least she has Donny Steelโs return to look forward to. After she spent an evening with him at a recent party, he hasnโt strayed far from her mind.
When Donny and Callie meet again, sparks do more than fly. They shoot like rockets to the stars. But their chemistry canโt protect them from the emerging mysteries regarding the Steel familyโs pastโฆor the secret Callie is keeping as well.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shayla Black returns with a new story in her More Than Words seriesโฆ
I persuaded my best friend that I should be her firstโฆ
Iโm Hayes Elliott. Since second grade, Iโve had one best friend, Echo Hope. When she graduates from college, of course I have to give her something amazing. Since Iโll be on a business trip to Maui, Iโm bringing her along for a week of fun and sun. But once she sheds her long skirts, serious buns, and combat boots for bikinis, I canโt deny how stunning she isโฆand I canโt stop wanting her. Worse, sheโs determined to lose her V-cardโand has asked one of our man-whoring buddies to pluck it.
Iโve got to step in.
Itโs underhanded, but I offer to do the job properly. Since Iโm no oneโs Prince Charming, I have no intention of following through. Suddenly, the kisses start and the clothes come offโฆand I canโt remember why Iโm not supposed to make her mine in every way. Or why I shouldnโt be in love with her. But if I want Echo for more than a vacation fling, Iโll have to fight. And sheโs about to find out how determined I am to upgrade my best friend to wife.
Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, itโs an introduction to an authorโs world. And for fans, itโs a bonus book in the authorโs series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.
Lola Ellis has a picture-perfect life. Until she doesnโt.
Successful, engaged to the man of her dreams, and focused. Until suddenly sheโs questioning her position in the family company, her fiancรฉโs fidelity, and everything she thought she knew about life.
On her way to Florida to open a new branch of the family business and meet her fiancรฉ Owen, she unexpectedly detours to visit her best friend in Durham, North Carolina. What was meant to be a week of rest and relaxation as she gets her mind right stretches into a permanent TBD. She canโt face the future waiting for her in Destin, Florida. And the longer she stays in Durham, the less she wants to.
Will English is an uptight, arrogant bartender who keeps scaring away waitresses. Too busy micromanaging his co-owning siblings, his patience is thin when it comes to the rest of the business. When Lola takes a job at his bar to fill her time while she decides what to do about the mess her life has suddenly become, he decides not to engage with the clearly underqualified new waitress. Sheโs clumsy, clueless, and costing him too much money every time she gives away another round of drinks because sheโs messed up again. And yetโฆ thereโs something about her that keeps him from dismissing her.
Together, after the bar closes every night, they forge a friendship that doesnโt fit into either of their lives. Lolaโs stay in Durham is only temporary. And Willโs roots in the city are deeply established. A relationship doesnโt make sense. But sometime after midnight one nightโฆ they decide they donโt care.
Once Upon a Broken Heartย marks the launch of a new series about love, curses, and the lengths that people will go to for happily ever after from Stephanie Garber,ย the #1ย New York Timesย bestselling author ofย Caraval
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endingsโฆuntil she learns that the love of her life will marry another.
Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.
But after Evangelineโs first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game โ and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than sheโd pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy…
In this stunning new fantasy novel from international bestselling author C. S. Pacat, heroes and villains of a long-forgotten war are reborn and begin to draw new battle lines. This epic fantasy with high-stakes romance will sit perfectly on shelves next to beloved fantasy novels like the Infernal Devices series, the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and the Red Queen series.
Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. Then an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, who have sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns. Will is thrust into a world of magic, where he starts training for a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark.
As London is threatened and old enmities are awakened, Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.
Likeย V.E. Schwabโsย A Darker Shade of Magicย and Shelby Mahurinโsย Serpent & Dove,ย Dark Riseย is more than just high intrigue fantasyโitโs fast-paced, action-packed, and completely surprising. Readers will love exploring the rich setting of nineteenth-century London. This thrilling story of friendship, deception, loyalty, and betrayal is sure to find a passionate audience of readers.
USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Jewel E. Ann returns with an addictive new adult romance about a young woman who discovers years of Sunday sermons didnโt prepare her for the many lessons of the crude and sexy man who is now her boss.ย
It’s official.
I’m eighteen and a young woman with endless possibilities on my way to reunite with my mom in Colorado after five years apartโshe had a little weed incident in Nebraska.
At the airport, she springs the news on me … she’s leaving for a month of job training. And me? I’m left on my own in the basement she’s renting from the fisherman, aka her landlord who lives upstairs.
He’s ten years older than me. Never wears a shirt. And makes it hard to remember all the things I learned at Christian Academy.
Did I mention heโs also my new boss?
Two brothers. A childhood sweetheart.
Life has never been easy for this trio, and especially not after the end of civilization as they knew it. Having had their formative years ripped from them, they were thrust into a shattered, savage world, a world where they only had each other.
Love and loss.
Weary travellers on the brink, there is a storm brewing, a turbulent tempest that has nothing to do with the weather. When tragedy strikes, everything changes in the blink of an eye– facades come undone, and loyalty is pushed to a breaking point.
A diamond in the rough.
Immersed back into something akin to normal society, a safe-haven in the midst of misery, our travellers are forced to finally confront their demons–long-kept secrets that have been haunting them for nearly a decade.
Love is never easy;
And love during the end of the world is a hell of a lot more complicated.
View The Weekly Edit Archive »