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Elite ballerina Allie Rousseau is no stranger to pressure. With her mother's eyes always watching, perfection was expected, no matterthe cost. But when an injury jeopardizes all she's sacrificed for, Allie returns to her summer home to heal and recover. But the memories she's tried to forget rush in and threaten to take her under. As a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hudson Ellis knows that hesitation canmean the difference between life and death. He's always prided himself on being in the right place at the right time, especially when it came to Allie Rousseau--until the night he left for basic. After the biggest regret of his life, the secrets he keeps mean he can never be with the one woman he wants more than his next breath.

"After accidentally going viral on social media, a cupcake-baking football player gets assistance from a social media maven--and his best friend's little sister--to help promote his new bakery. August Hodges was supposed to be the silent partner in Sugar Blitz Cupcakes. Emphasis on silent. That is until his impromptu feminist rant about how women bakers are the backbone of the industry and baking cupcakes isn't a threat to masculinity goes viral, making him the hottest bachelor in town. With a new location in the works, August and his partners decide to capitalize on this perfect opportunity to help cement their place in the community. But the hiring of his best friend's younger sister, the woman who has haunted some of his best dreams for years, was as much of a shock as his new-found fame. Social media manager Sloane Dell fell hard for her brother's best friend the moment she met him more than a decade ago, but that teenage infatuation cost her dearly. Still, she accepts her brother's request to revamp the bakery's social media presence to take advantage of August's newfound popularity, knowing it's the big break her fledgling career needs. She'll just ignore the fact that August is still August, i.e. sexier and sweeter than any man has a right to be. And that he drives her crazy with his resistance to all her ideas. They vow to leave the past in the past. But when an explosive make-out session makes it clear their attraction burns hotter than ever, Sloane and August are forced to reconsider what it means to take a risk and chase your dreams. As they're both about to find out, all's fair in love and cupcakes"-- Provided by publisher.

"Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist-and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother's pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic...like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who's ever really seen her. Aspiring painter Edward "Teddy" Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist's model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He'll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience. After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella's luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture..."-- Provided by publisher.

When the death of her aunt brings Liz Remolina back to San Ojuela, the prospect fills her with dread. The isolated desert town was the site of a harrowing childhood accident that left her clairvoyant, the companion of wraiths and ghosts. Yet it may also hold the secret to making peace with a dark family history and a complicated personal and cultural identity.

"Real life is turning out to be stranger than a script for the silver screen"-- Provided by publisher.

"A young girl has died and the family's maid is being interrogated. She must tell the whole story before arriving at the girl's death"-- Provided by publisher.

"The winner of Sweden's most prestigious literary award makes her American debut with an epic, multigenerational poem about a Sámi family's quest to stay together across a century of migration, violence, and colonial schooling"-- Provided by publisher.

December 1952. While the young Queen Elizabeth II finds her feet as the new monarch, she must also find the right words to continue the tradition of her late father's Christmas Day radio broadcast. But even traditions must evolve with the times, and the queen faces a postwar Britain hungry for change. As preparations begin for the royal Christmas at Sandringham House in Norfolk, old friends--Jack Devereux and Olive Carter--are unexpectedly reunited by the occasion. Olive, a single mother and aspiring reporter at the BBC, leaps at the opportunity to cover the holiday celebration, but even a chance encounter with the queen doesn't go as planned and Olive wonders if she will ever be taken seriously. Jack, a recently widowed chef, reluctantly takes up a new role in the royal kitchens at Sandringham. Lacking in purpose and direction, Jack has abandoned his dream to have his own restaurant, but his talents are soon noticed and while he might not believe in himself, others do, and a chance encounter with an old friend helps to reignite the spark of his passion and ambition. As Jack and Olive's paths continue to cross over the following five Christmases, they grow ever closer. Yet Olive carries the burden of a heavy secret that threatens to destroy everything. Christmas Day, December 1957. As the nation eagerly awaits the Queen's first televised Christmas speech, there is one final gift for the Christmas season to deliver... -- Provided by publisher.

"Ricocheting off of the book's exhilarating central novella and 7 short stories, the women we meet in Canoes are by turns indelibly witty, insightful, intimate, bracing, and profoundly interconnected. From a voice made new, Maylis de Kerangal opens up a torrent of curiosities, hauntings, and questions about place and language. The women of these stories are mad about: stones, molds of human jaws, voicemail recordings, sonic waves, UFOs, and always how the texture of human voice entwines with their obsessions. With cosmic harmonics, vivid imagery, and a revelatory composition, Canoes will leave readers forever altered."--Amazon

1994, the summer leading up to the ceasefire between Britain and the IRA. In the Northern Irish border town of Cross, after decades of violent activity protesting British rule, a community plays out its end game. Francie, a hardened yet troubled IRA man, has authorized the murder of a policeman by two teenaged henchmen. The Widow Donnelly protests in the town square because her son has gone missing. Young Cathy Murphy, a Protestant, is trying to find her place among a people who ignore her. And pathological Handy Byrnes, whose marksmanship makes him a valuable weapon, is out of control.

In a desperate bid to get out of town, twenty-seven-year-old virgin and bookstore nerd Elena Zelenska becomes the world's most unlikely mail-order bride. Her gamble pays off when she's swept off her feet by Benjamin Wittacker, handsome single father and (gasp!) actual published author. Elena's new fiancé seems almost too good to be true. Her life is turning into a fairytale, especially once Ben starts building her a castle in the woods. But when Elena arrives in Grimstone, her fairytale turns darker. The castle in the woods is a macabre labyrinth of hidden chambers, and Ben is no Prince Charming. In fact, he might just be a monster. Isolated far from home, Elena's only ally is Atlas Covett, the owner of the Monarch hotel. Massive and stern, even Atlas' employees are terrified of him. He becomes Elena's unexpected protector, offering solace and sanctuary from the darkness that threatens to consume her. As Elena's bond with Atlas deepens, her jealous fiancé exerts his control in increasingly twisted ways. Elena must find a way out before the castle he's building becomes a prison she'll never escape.

"All Aaron wants for Christmas is for his brother, Casey, to get over his ex, Raquel. He'd prefer not to be at Winter Wonderland, the island north of Alaska that's home to a year-round Christmas theme park. Unfortunately for Aaron, Casey's determined to do anything to win Raquel back. All Kris wants for Christmas is for his uncle to move back to Winter Wonderland to be the first gay Santa. To make that happen, Kris needs to win the Race. Winning means a trip to New York, where Kris would be able to plead his uncle's case to the founder of Winter Wonderland himself. After some slippery ice sends Aaron and Kris literally flopping into each other, Kris agrees to help Aaron with his plan to keep Casey single. But in all their scheming, both can't stop thinking about kissing the other, and it's not just because of the mistletoe around every corner"--Provided by publisher.

"Cordelia Black loves exactly three things: her chosen family, her hairdresser (worth every penny plus tip), and killing bad men. By day, she's an ambitious pharma rep with a flawless reputation and designer wardrobe. By night, she culls South Louisiana of unscrupulous men-monsters who think they've evaded justice, until they meet her. Sure, the evening news may have started throwing around phrases like "serial killer," but Cordelia knows that's absurd. She's not a killer; she is simply karma. And being karma requires complete and utter control. But when Cordelia discovers a flaw in her perfectly designed system for eliminating monsters, pressure heightens. And it only intensifies when her best friend starts dating a man Cordelia isn't sure is a good person. Someone who might just unravel everything she has worked for. Soon enough, Cordelia has to come face to face with the choices she's made. The good, the bad, and the murderous. Both her family and her freedom depend on it"-- Provided by publisher.

Can coming home bring redemption? Or at least a measure of peace? Recently released from prison, Blake Alvares returns to the only place she ever felt safe, the now derelict Maine town in which she harbored as a teen. Determined to conceal her secrets and losses, she soon finds herself dragged into others' lives when she takes a job on a boat owned by a notorious young lobsterman. Leland Savard is nearly broke, trying to support himself and 9-year-old Quinnie as he wrestles with a dangerous family legacy. Though his choice to hire Blake raises local eyebrows, Leland and those around Blake are quickly surprised and jarred by how much they come to rely on her. At the same time, Blake stumbles into love from unexpected places. When Leland's rash actions place her and Quinnie in peril, Blake feels forced to run again-only to discover the past is never more than a few steps behind her. On her quest for home, Blake must confront a daunting question: where does she belong?

"It's 1913 when Mina, the young and carefree daughter of a Jewish merchant, roams into a forest on the edge of the Baltic Sea looking for mushrooms. Instead, she encounters a gang of unruly, charismatic Bolsheviks - an adventure that will become the stuff of familial lore for generations to come. Intending to save them from further corruption, and in an act that forever changes the trajectory of their family's life, Mina and her eldest brother Jossel, board a ship to England. There, the threat of a different war looms large. When World War I hits, Jossel is sent to the front, where he keeps a severely wounded soldier in his unit alive until morning by telling him tales - including that his sister Mina, will marry him if he survives. The soldier lives and asks for Mina's hand, their marriage uniting two growing trade dynasties. But over time, Mina and Jossel will learn that not everyone in their family has survived the wars and pogroms, even as they and their offspring struggle to build new lives in Liverpool in the midst of ever-shifting discriminations. Based on the author's own family history and legends, The Story of the Forest is a remarkable record of family lore and a meditation on the power of stories to ground us, particularly in the face of life's inevitable losses - told with a keen wit and a sharp eye to the charms and the foibles of family by masterful British novelist Linda Grant." -- Provided by publisher.

In the hot summer of 1994 in Fife, teenage Cora Mowat struggles with her small-town life and uncertain future while dealing with her mother's new, enigmatic boyfriend, Gunner, a one-eyed shoplifter with hidden secrets, and seeking to escape her circumstances after a tragedy strikes.

"Newly single Meadow Liu is house-sitting for his friend, artist Selma Shimizu, when he stumbles upon The Masquerade, a translated novel about a masked ball in 1930s Shanghai. The author's name is the same as Meadow's own in Chinese, Liu Tian--a coincidence that proves to be the first of many strange happenings. Over the course of a single summer, Meadow must contend with a possibly haunted apartment, a mirror that plays tricks, a stranger speaking in riddles at the bar where he works, as well as a startling revelation about a former lover. And when Selma vanishes from her artist residency, Meadow is forced to question everything he knows as the boundaries between real and imagined begin to blur"-- Provided by publisher.

"When Lila, a rising 29-year-old Indian American editor based in Brooklyn, unexpectedly inherits a huge ancestral home in the center of Calcutta, she must return to India, where she must also confront her mother after a decade's estrangement, along with her grandmother, and extended family, all of whom still live in the house, and resent her sudden legacy"-- Provided by publisher.

"Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory-a real-life Handmaid's Tale-during World War II. In a sleepy German village, Allina Strauss's life seems idyllic: she works at her uncle's bookshop, makes strudel with her aunt, and spends weekends with her friends and fiancé. But it's 1939, Adolf Hitler is Chancellor, and Allina's family hides a terrifying secret-her birth mother was Jewish, making her a Mischling. One fateful night after losing everyone she loves, Allina is forced into service as a nurse at a state-run baby factory called Hochland Home. There, she becomes both witness and participant to the horrors of Heinrich Himmler's ruthless eugenics program. The Sunflower House is a meticulously-researched debut historical novel that uncovers the notorious Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. Women of "pure" blood stayed in Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to "good" Nazi families. Allina must keep her Jewish identity a secret in order to survive, but when she discovers the neglect occurring within the home, she's determined not only to save herself, but also the children in her care. A tale of one woman's determination to resist and survive, The Sunflower House is also a love story. When Allina meets Karl, a high-ranking SS officer with secrets of his own, the two must decide how much they are willing to share with each other-and how much they can stand to risk as they join forces to save as many children as they can. The threads of this poignant and heartrending novel weave a tale of loss and love, friendship and betrayal, and the secrets we bury in order to save ourselves"-- Provided by publisher.

"This grimy survival horror novella from Cassidy (Nestlings) careens along with anarchic glee, following Abe Neer, the bassist for noise-metal duo Darwin's Fo︠tus, as he fights for his life in a godforsaken public bathroom. Abe is en route to his cantankerous grandmother's deathbed when he veers off the highway to visit an out of the way rest stop called Trumbull Farms Snake and Spider House. He winds up trapped in the tiny, filthy bathroom by an unseen assailant as a series of crawling horrors slither in through the vent. Haunted by memories and flights of imagination as he fights off the creepy crawlies, Abe struggles to keep his wits--especially after he catches a glimpse of the thing on the other side of the door, a masked figure covered in googly eyes that wants to devour him completely. The splatterpunk plot hits the ground running and maintains incredible tension throughout with fearlessly disgusting horror beats and a twist readers will never see coming. One part Stephen King's Desperation and one part Green Room, this is like a perfectly satisfying gas station hot dog--greasy, made of surprisingly complex components, and viscerally rewarding."--Publishers Weekly.

"Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of twelve delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights. This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of Hanukkah noir, and poignant reminders of the meaning of the Festival of Lights. Includes stories by David L. Ulin, Ivy Pochoda, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg"-- Provided by publisher.

"The author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave. Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story. One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom? Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks-and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought. Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio's inimitable style."-- Provided by publisher.

"From international bestselling authors James S. Murray (better known as "Murr" on the hit TV show Impractical Jokers) and Darren Wearmouth, comes You Better Watch Out, a suspenseful, serial killer thriller that leaves you wondering, is Christmas really the best time of the year? Forty-eight hours until Christmas, Jessica Kane wakes up with blurred vision, ears ringing, and in excruciating pain. A gash in her head and blood running down her face, the last thing she remembers is going for a run and something or someone hitting her in the head. It doesn't take her long to realize she is trapped in an unknown, deserted town with five other strangers who share similar stories of being attacked and stranded there. Unsure why and how they got there, she knows one thing for certain, she has to find a way out. That becomes nearly impossible when someone is meticulously orchestrating their deaths, one by one, and the only thing Jessica can do is watch the life leave their eyes. The fenced-in town is the killer's very own playground and there's nowhere left to hide... she better watch out because she could be next"-- Provided by publisher.

"At work one night, photography archivist Charlie Sze-Toh receives a misdirected letter from Wang Tian Wei, a 1920s colonial era Chinese photographer. Through a mysterious digital folder and photographic plates, a conversation is sparked, leading to a romance that spans lifetimes. In his time, Tian Wei scours a turbulent Singapore for his missing friend, Aiko, leading him to the perfumed chambers of a Japanese brothel. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Charlie struggles against a family dynamic dominated by her stepmother, a manipulative matriarch who uses family secrets as bargaining chips. Communication starts to become difficult and Tian Wei's letters are tinged by the increasing threat of Japanese Occupation. Will one last fate-defying letter from Charlie allow Tian Wei to keep their love alive?"--Provided by publisher.

"After a bad break-up and a health diagnosis of Lupus earlier this year, Savannah takes an impulsive trip to her favorite aunt's home, where she spent childhood summers. When she arrives, Savannah is surprised to see the house overflowing with books and the garden overflowing with roses. Aunt Eleanor recommends books to her visitors, including Savannah, which help them grow and blossom-just like the flowers she nurtures with so much care. While soul-searching among her aunt's blooms, Savannah stumbles upon her first love-all grown up and more handsome than ever. Evan Sanders has reluctantly agreed to build a gazebo for Eleanor in preparation for the annual gardening contest. This is his first full summer with his daughter after his wife passed away, and he needs to fill it with enough love to make up for all the summers he's missed out on. As Savannah sits in the garden and reads the books that Eleanor handpicks for her, she finds healing and self-discovery in the pages. But is it enough to convince Savannah to risk a second chance with Evan?"-- Provided by publisher.

"He was released from federal prison to a second life as an unwilling assassin, serving a major Chicago crime lord until the day he finally won his freedom. But that freedom was a lie. Now Mason finds himself on a plane to Jakarta, promoted to lead assassin for a vast shadow organization that reaches every corner of the globe. This time, there's only one name on his list: Hashim Baya--otherwise known as the Crocodile--international fugitive and #1 most wanted on Interpol's "Red Notice" list. Baya is the most dangerous and elusive criminal Mason has ever faced. And for the first time in his career, Mason fails his mission. Baya gets away alive. There's only one thing he can do now: to save himself, his ex-wife, and his daughter, he must make this mission his life, hunting down the target on his own. But Mason isn't alone in his search, because for Interpol agent Martin Sauvage, apprehending Baya has become a personal vendetta. Sauvage is a man just as haunted as Mason. And just as determined. Never have the stakes been so high, the forces surrounding him so great. Sauvage wants Baya in prison. Mason needs him in a body bag. Assassin and cop are on a five-thousand-mile collision course, leading to a brutal final showdown--and the one man in the world who can finally show Nick Mason the way to freedom"--Provided by publisher.

"The Red Wheel is Nobel Prize-winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's multivolume epic work about the Russian Revolution. He spent decades writing about just four of the most important periods, or "nodes." This is the first time that the monumental March 1917--the third node--has been translated into English. It tells the story of the Russian Revolution itself, during which the Imperial government melts in the face of the mob, and the giants of the opposition also prove incapable of controlling the course of events. The action of Book 2 (of four) of March 1917 is set during March 13-15, 1917, the Russian Revolution's turbulent second week. The revolution has already won inside the capital, Petrograd. News of the revolution flashes across all Russia through the telegraph system of the Ministry of Roads and Railways. But this is wartime, and the real power is with the army. At Emperor Nikolai II's order, the Supreme Command sends troops to suppress the revolution in Petrograd. Meanwhile, victory speeches ring out at Petrograd's Tauride Palace. Inside, two parallel power structures emerge: the Provisional Government and the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which sends out its famous "Order No. 1," presaging the destruction of the army. The troops sent to suppress the Petrograd revolution are halted by the army's own top commanders. The Emperor is detained and abdicates, and his ministers are jailed and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. This sweeping, historical novel is a must-read for Solzhenitsyn's many fans, as well as those interested in twentieth-century history, Russian history and literature, and military history." -- Jacket flap.

"Nora Aberdeen has been a mess since her mother died. Once a promising young journalism student, she's dropped out of school, stopped taking care of herself, and cut off most of her friendships. On a whim, she ventures out of her comfort zone to the deteriorating small town of Woodbridge, Pennsylvania, to meet a blind date, where she is embarrassingly stood up. Nora finds herself on edge on her desolate trek back home, and before she understands what's happened, a visibly distressed - and bloody - young woman darts in front of her car, causing Nora to veer off the road and headfirst into a tree. When Nora regains consciousness, the woman is gone. Nora's estranged uncle, a Sheriff's Deputy, comes calling with information about a growing list of young women turning up dead in Woodbridge, including the woman who caused Nora's accident--whose death has been, to Nora's shock, declared a suicide. His colleagues have written the women off as overdoses, but suspicious circumstances and the department's ineptitude point to something more nefarious. Unsure if she can trust the only family she has left, Nora finds renewed passion and purpose as she dusts off old journalism skills to uncover the secrets of the missing young women and her connection to them, and to her blind date, whose online presence has been scrubbed without a trace."-- Provided by publisher.

"Lila Peirera is a force to be reckoned with. Raised in 1970s Detroit by her abusive father and stern Bubbe after her mother Zelda's early death, Lila escaped the poverty of her childhood to reach stratospheric heights as editor-in-chief of The Washington Globe. There, she exposes political scandals and establishes a reputation as a no-nonsense, straight-talker. At home, she's just as tough, leaving the raising of her three daughters to her kind and loyal husband. Having always craved more of her mother's attention--and having long questioned the circumstances surrounding her grandmother Zelda's death--Lila's youngest daughter, Grace, writes an autobiographical novel. In her book, Grace speculates that Zelda never died, rather, she abandoned her children, forcing Lila to become the hard-edged, dispassionate woman Grace grew up with. Grace's book is her attempt to make sense of her mother, but she could never have imagined that Lila would die shortly after its publication. Lila leaves Grace a posthumous directive: find out the truth about what really happened to Zelda. Zigzagging between Washington, D.C., Detroit, and New York City, and probing the truths that all families attempt to hide between generations, Like Mother, Like Mother is a smart, lively, and deeply moving novel about the inescapability of genetic inheritance"-- Provided by publisher.

In formally adventurous stories rooted in Zambian literary tradition, Obligations to the Wounded explores the expectations and burdens of womanhood in Zambia and for Zambian women living abroad. The collection converses with global social problems through the depiction of games, social media feuds, letters, and folklore to illustrate how girls and women manage religious expectation, migration, loss of language, death, intimate partner violence, and racial discrimination. Although the women and girls inhabiting these pages are separated geographically and by life stage, their shared burdens, culture, and homeland inextricably link them together in struggle and triumph.