The Weekly Edit

White lies. Dark humor. Deadly consequences… Bestselling sensation Juniper Song is not who she says she is, she didn’t write the book she claims she wrote, and she is most certainly not Asian American—in this chilling and hilariously cutting novel from R.F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel. 

Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently readable.

Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script—from the New York Times bestselling authors of The Soulmate Equation and The Unhoneymooners.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in the New York Times bestselling The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

READ MY REVIEW

A Big Chill for our times, celebrating decades-long friendships and promises—especially to ourselves—by the bestselling and beloved author of The Guncle.

It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited in Big Sur to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living “funerals,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living—that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves.

But this reunion is different. They’re not gathered as they were to bolster Marielle as her marriage crumbled, to lift Naomi after her parents died, or to intervene when Craig pleaded guilty to art fraud. This time, Jordan is sitting on a secret that will upend their pact.

A deeply honest tribute to the growing pains of selfhood and the people who keep us going, coupled with Steven Rowley’s signature humor and heart, The Celebrants is a moving tale about the false invincibility of youth and the beautiful ways in which friendship helps us celebrate our lives, even amid the deepest challenges of living.

From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Proby comes Chapel Bend, an enemies to lovers, small town romance in her beloved series, Huckleberry Bay!

There’s a fine line between love and hate.

In Huckleberry Bay, Oregon, everyone knows that when it comes to Juniper “June” Snow – what you see is what you get. When you hire her construction company to do a job, it’s done right, on time, and on budget. When she’s your friend, she’s a ride-or-die who will support you no matter what. And when you’re her enemy…well, she can hold a grudge.

And she’s never forgotten how the tall, dark, and delicious Apollo Winchester hurt her so many years ago.

In a small town, it’s impossible to ignore someone who greets you with a death glare every time you meet. Apollo can’t recall why June hates him, but it doesn’t stop him from stirring her up every chance he gets. There’s something about her stubborn, “don’t mess with me” attitude that keeps him coming back for more. But June is his sister’s best friend and permanently on the “off-limits” list.

June puts aside her war with Apollo and hires him to work on her most important project, the renovation of a chapel into her dream home. She wants the best…and Apollo is the best . . . on the job site and in her bed. He won’t turn down the chance to spend more time with June, especially when it’s clear that she wants him as much as she hates him. Proximity leads to opportunity, and opportunity leads to steamy times between the sheets.

But a mystery threatens June and Apollo will protect her and their growing connection, no matter the cost.

When a woman who’d rather do anything than read meets a swoon-worthy bookworm, sparks fly, making for one hot-summer fling in New York Times bestselling author Jenn McKinlay’s new rom-com.

For Samantha Gale, a summer on Martha’s Vineyard at her family’s tiny cottage was supposed to be about resurrecting her career as a chef, until she’s tasked with chaperoning her half-brother, Tyler. The teenage brainiac is spending his summer at the local library in a robotics competition, and there’s no place Sam, who has dyslexia, likes less than the library. And because the universe hates her, the library’s interim director turns out to be the hot-reader guy whose book she accidentally destroyed on the ferry ride to the island.

Bennett Reynolds is on a quest to find his father, whose identity he’s never known. He’s taken the temporary job on the island to research the summer his mother spent there when she got pregnant with him. Ben tells himself he isn’t interested in a relationship right now. Yet as soon as Sam knocks his book into the ocean, he can’t stop thinking about her.

An irresistible attraction blossoms when Ben inspires Sam to create the cookbook she’s always dreamed about and she jumps all in on helping him find his father, and soon they realize their summer fling may heat up into a happily ever after.

Who knew that one night out would change everything?

As a financial analyst, Rachel Bai is more comfortable with numbers than people. When her boss promotes her to head a team in San Francisco, his message is clear—she has one year to build a successful team and become an effective leader. Rachel sets out to discover how to be more comfortable interacting with people, but a drunken night meant for research results in a mechanical bull ride and a one-night stand with a sexy stranger—definitely not part of her plan.

Attorney Luke Trudeau is intrigued by the mysterious woman who’s determined to put their night together firmly in her rearview mirror. So when Luke sees Rachel again, he proposes a deal: he’ll smooth out her rough social edges and teach her to charm clients if she’ll help him devise a financial plan to open his own practice.

It seems like a win-win, but Luke breaks the rules by falling in love. Can he convince Rachel that what they have is real and, when it comes to love, there are no set rules?

You’ve Got Mail meets a YA Beach Read with a bookish mystery at its heart in the newest rom-com from Maria E. Andreu. The ideal next read for fans of Emily Henry, Kasie West, and Jennifer E. Smith.

Julieta isn’t looking for her Romeo—but she is writing about love. When her summer writing teacher encourages the class to publish their work online, the last thing she’s expecting is to get a notification that her rom-com has a mysterious new contributor, Happily Ever Drafter. Julieta knows that happily ever afters aren’t real. (Case in point: her parents’ imploding marriage.) But then again, could this be her very own meet-cute?

As things start to heat up in her fiction, Julieta can’t help but notice three boys in her real life: her best friend’s brother (aka her nemesis), the boy next door (well, to her abuela), and her oldest friend (who is suddenly looking . . . hot?). Could one of them be her mysterious collaborator? But even if Julieta finds her Romeo, she’ll have to remember that life is full of plot twists. . . .

From the author of Love in English comes a fresh take on love and romance, and a reminder to always be the author of your own life story.

From the bestselling author of Dead Certain and The Perfect Marriage comes a smart and twisty legal thriller about love, life, and truth, that careens to a shocking conclusion you won’t soon forget …

Matthew Brooks and Vanessa Lyons are a perfect love match, both attorneys at a powerful New York City law firm. But there’s a hitch: Matt just made partner, and Vanessa is coming up for partner next year. And Vanessa’s husband, the profligate Bradley Lyons, has his suspicions.

Vanessa is assigned to the biggest case at the firm, the one that will determine her future. Unfortunately, Matt has been working the case for years, leaving him no choice but to supervise his lover in violation of firm policy. When Vanessa is denied her partnership, despite assurances to the contrary, she can only assume that her affair with Matt was the reason.

Then, on a crowded Manhattan street corner, a knife flashes in the midday sun, leaving behind a scene of horror. But with so many having been betrayed, will the murderer be brought to justice? A gripping criminal trial will leave readers unsure of who, if anyone, is telling the truth, all culminating in a jaw-dropping reveal.

READ AN EXCERPT

I have one simple rule: don’t date professional baseball players. There are no exceptions, no workarounds.

“What if—”
No.
“Could he—”
Nuh-uh.

With a brother in the league, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the downright horrifying. Those guys might seem tantalizing when they’re in uniform down on the field, hitting grand slams in front of a crowd of adoring fans, but I know better. The huge egos? The insane travel schedules? The veritable buffet of female companions? No ma’am. Professional athletes are best handled at a distance, preferably far enough away that their chiseled jawlines blur into oblivion.

Enter Grant Navarro.

He’s the baseball player to end all baseball players. The one I should have marked with a big red X the first moment I laid eyes on him. Only the night we met (and kissed—oops), I didn’t know he was my brother’s newest teammate. Imagine my shock when I realized the sexiest man in Manhattan was officially off limits. Just my luck!

Let the record show that I had every intention of following my rule and staying away from Grant. When he smiled that irresistible smile and those dimples popped, I stood my ground. When he made it very clear he’d love to pick up where we left off the night we met, I said, Hold it right there, partner. When he messaged me all sorts of naughty things on Instagram, I logged out of that app so fast I dented my iPhone screen.

Baseball players are bad, bad, bad.

So tell me why giving in to Grant just for a night, getting one taste of what could be starts to seem not just tempting, but downright mandatory.

Yeah, about that one simple rule…haven’t you heard?
Rules are meant to be broken.

My new assistant is all smiles and sunshine—and she’s about to set fire to my cold, grumpy heart.

I’ve moved to this god-forsaken small town to run the family business.
I need to hire a new PA and the pickings are slim.
Some say my irrational expectations are the reason I’ve gone through assistants quicker than most people refill their coffee.
Incompetence is my pet peeve.
If that makes me irrational, so be it.
Then Georgia Reynolds walks into my office.
Blonde hair.
Sapphire eyes.
And a smart mouth that irritates me as much as it turns me on.
On top of being a rockstar at her job, she is a ray of freaking sunshine on steroids.
I have no patience for it.
Nor for the way she flutters around the office like a modern-day Tinkerbell.
She has ridiculous taste in music.
Drives an unreasonable form of transportation.
And did I mention that I caught her dancing in my closet when I sent her on a simple errand?
My new assistant has somehow become my kryptonite.
But I am her boss, and I am not going to be a pathetic cliché.
It doesn’t matter that my cold, jaded heart has started beating again.
In my world, a beating heart makes you weak.
And I do not tolerate weaknesses.

When the shoe drops, it always hits her on the head.

Tessa Albertini has spent much of her life guest-starring in other people’s stories. Her older sister is a type-A personality who creates opportunities like other people build hopes, and her younger sister finds trouble like it’s an integral strand of her DNA. Finally Tessa’s hard work and sacrifice allow her to open that restaurant she’s been dreaming about since she was a young teenager working her butt off, regardless of the obstacles now slamming into her.

There’s an advancing enemy who doesn’t want Tessa to succeed in business, while Nonna Albertini is determined she’ll succeed in love, no matter how much meddling it takes. Finally, Nick Basanelli, the most arrogant and sexy man she has ever met, zeroes his formidable focus into actually courting her—and that’s before he discovers she’s in danger and morphs into overprotective alpha male mode.

While a family’s middle child is supposedly a peacemaker, the world is about to discover that when pushed far enough, Tessa is willing to go to war.