Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.

Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue―convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous young military advisor, Fanli, he presents her with a rare opportunity: to use her beauty as a weapon. One that could topple the rival neighboring kingdom of Wu, improve the lives of her people, and avenge her sister’s murder. All she has to do is infiltrate the enemy palace as a spy, seduce their immoral king, and weaken them from within.

Trained by Fanli in everything from classical instruments to concealing emotion, Xishi hones her beauty into the perfect blade. But she knows Fanli can see through every deception she masters, the attraction between them burning away any falsehoods.

Once inside the enemy palace, Xishi finds herself under the hungry gaze of the king’s advisors while the king himself shows her great affection. Despite his gentleness, a brutality lurks and Xishi knows she can never let her guard down. But the higher Xishi climbs in the Wu court, the farther she and Fanli have to fall―and if she is unmasked as a traitor, she will bring both kingdoms down.

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

A Song to Drown Rivers

Chelsea Bieker

Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she’s landed the life of her dreams, complete with a safe husband and two adoring children who will never know the terror that was routine in her own childhood. If her buried anxiety threatens to breach the surface, Clove (if that is really her name) focuses on finding the right supplement, the right gratitude meditation. 

But when she receives a letter from a women’s prison in California, her past comes screeching into the present, entangling her in a dangerous game with memory and the people she thought she had outrun. As we race between her precarious present-day life in Portland, Oregon and her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise with her mother and father, Clove is forced to finally unravel the defining day of her life. How did she survive that day, and what will it take to end the cycle of violence? Will the truth undo her, or could it ultimately save her?

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A gripping story of motherhood and motherloss and the brutal, mighty things women do to keep themselves and each other alive, MADWOMAN marks the arrival of a major fiction talent. The world is not made for mothers. Yet mothers made the world... Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she's landed the life of her dreams, complete with a safe husband and two adoring children who will never know the terror that was routine in her own childhood. If her buried anxiety threatens to breach the surface, Clove (if that is really her name) focuses on finding the right supplement, the right gratitude meditation. But when she receives a letter from a women's prison in California, her past comes screeching into the present, entangling her in a dangerous game with memory and the people she thought she had outrun. As we race between her precarious present-day life in Portland, Oregon and her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise with her mother and father, Clove is forced to finally unravel the defining day of her life. How did she survive that day, and what will it take to end the cycle of violence? Will the truth undo her, or could it ultimately save her?

Madwoman

db6f42f4-9bee-42e6-83b1-8e834aff2fd0-0

Isabel Banta

It is 1997, and Amber Young has received a life-changing call. It’s a chance thousands of girls would die for: the opportunity to join girl group Cloud9 in Los Angeles and escape her small town. She quickly finds herself in the orbits of fellow rising stars Gwen Morris, a driven singer-dancer, and Wes Kingston, a member of the biggest boy band in the world, ETA.

As Amber embarks on her solo career and her fame intensifies, her rich interior life is frequently reduced. Surrounded by people who claim to love her but only wish to exploit her and driven by a desire for recognition and success, for love and sex, for agency and connection, Amber comes of age at a time when the kaleidoscope of public opinion can distort everything and one mistake can shatter a career.

With the captivating style of Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter and the raw honesty of Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died, Isabel Banta’s debut novel, Honey, redefines the narratives of some of the most famous pop icons of the ’90s and 2000s. It reimagines the superstars we idolized and hated, oversexualized and underestimated, and gives them the fresh, multifaceted story they deserve

A Novel

For fans of Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emma Cline's The Girls, and Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter, a coming-of-age story that follows the stunningly talented popstar Amber Young as she skyrockets to fame in the late 90s.It is 1997 and Amber Young is about to become one of the most infamous pop stars of her era. Plucked from a small town in New Jersey to join the newly formed girl group Cloud9 in Los Angeles, Amber is given the opportunity of a lifetime.Enter Gwen Morris and Wes Kingston, two of Amber's musical contemporaries who are in a highly publicized relationship. Gwen has the top music video on MTV's Total Request Live and Wes is a member of the most popular boy band in the world, ETA. In Gwen, Amber finds the first friend who can truly understand her - maybe the only person who ever will. But when Amber goes on tour with ETA as one of their opening acts, she develops an infatuation with Wes that threatens both her friendship with Gwen and the career she is so desperately trying to build. Under the spotlight, Amber is forced to reckon with her own desires, agency, and sense of self - and how the kaleidoscope of public opinion can distort everything.Through meticulous research about this era of pop music, and featuring iconic moments from early 2000s pop culture, Isabel Banta's debut novel, Honey, reimagines the pop stars of the late 90s and early 2000s, who we idolized and hated, oversexualized and underestimated, giving them the fresh, multifaceted story they deserve.

Honey

21ca9b7b-65cc-4fef-b44e-75129e54fd5e-0

Gabrielle Zevin

In this exhilarating novel by the best-selling author of The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry two friends--often in love, but never lovers--come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality.

"Utterly brilliant. In this sweeping, gorgeously written novel, Gabrielle Zevin charts the beauty, tenacity, and fragility of human love and creativity. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is one of the best books I've ever read."
--John Green
 
On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn't heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. These friends, intimates since childhood, borrow money, beg favors, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo. Overnight, the world is theirs. Not even twenty-five years old, Sam and Sadie are brilliant, successful, and rich, but these qualities won't protect them from their own creative ambitions or the betrayals of their hearts.
 
Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

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Simone St. James

A Most Anticipated Novel by PopSugar * Crime Reads * Goodreads * A true crime blogger gets more than she bargained for while interviewing the woman acquitted of two cold case slayings in this chilling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel. In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect--a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion. Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes. They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?

The Book of Cold Cases

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Barbara Fairchild

From the world's most trusted cooking experts, 1,100 great recipes to get weeknight dinners on the table fast Inspired by the popular "Fast Easy Fresh" feature in Bon Appetit and written in the user-friendly, approachable style so familiar to the magazine's 6 million readers, this cookbook is a must for people who want everyday dinners that are quick, delicious, and contemporary. These are not the old-fashioned, lackluster choices found in most 30-minute cookbooks and cooking shows. The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook is all about ease, speed—and taste. There are 1,100 exciting, flavorful recipes, with dishes that take a fun, modern spin like Arugula Salad with Olives, Pancetta, and Parmesan; Roasted Garlic Beef Stew; Linguine with Winter Pesto; Shrimp with Ginger-Herb Butter; Grilled Steak with Fresh Garden Herbs; and Peach Pie with Berry Jam. All of the recipes are simple enough for weeknights, but with their focus on fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors, they're really special enough for weekends, too. Illustrated throughout with handsome line drawings and 32 pages of beautiful new color photographs, this collection of favorite Bon Appetit recipes is sure to quickly become the go-to resource for home cooks everywhere, whether they're beginners or simply looking to stay on top of their game. For everyone who's eager to make truly satisfying and delicious meals—without spending a lot of time in the kitchen—this is the cookbook to reach for every night of the week.

Fast Easy Fresh

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"You can always tell a Bon App'tit recipe: It's a sophisticated twist on a beloved classic, and it's easy to make...our goal is to give you the cumulative expertise of Bon App'tit, with more than 1,200 recipes that will be delicious, first time out."?Barbara Fairchild

First launched in 1956, Bon App'tit is America's favorite and most widely read food and entertaining magazine, with a circulation of 1.3 million. Now, for the first time,The Bon App'tit Cookbook brings together more than 1,200 of the magazine's all-time best-loved recipes for every meal and occasion. The book is accessible and user-friendly -- just like the magazine -- and includes clear explanations and exclusive tips from the Bon App'tit test kitchen, along with 59 detailed illustrations of ingredients and techniques.

The recipes have been skillfully selected to represent the very best of the magazine's sophisticated, foolproof style: easy-to-make dishes that incorporate a variety of regional and international influences -- recipes that are delicious the first time out. From Cajun-Grilled Shrimp to Artichoke and Mushroom Lasagna to Hot and Sticky Apricot-Glazed Chicken to Molasses Chewies with Brown Sugar Glaze, there are dishes that will tempt every palate. Complete with a gorgeous 32-page color insert and a simple yet elegant design throughout,The Bon App'tit Cookbook is a must for those who truly love to make and enjoy great food.

The Bon Appetit Cookbook

bb759154-c216-418f-8260-432a75cbe70e-1

Mark Bittman

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

A Better Way to Cook Great Food

Demonstrates how to minimize cooking times while becoming more intuitive in the kitchen, sharing hundreds of simple, flavorful dishes that can be prepared in fifteen to forty-five minutes.

How to Cook Everything Fast

207a8a73-acc5-412c-94cc-801d3772b07c-1

Nigella Lawson

Recipes from the Heart of the Home

Comprehensive, informative, and engaging, Nigella Kitchen offers feel-good food for cooks and eaters that is comforting yet always seductive, nostalgic but with a modern twist -- whether super-fast exotic recipes for the weekday rush, leisurely slow-cook dishes for weekends and special occasions, or irresistible cakes and cookies in true "domestic goddess" style. Nigella Kitchen answers everyday cooking quandaries -- what to feed a group of hungry teenagers, how to rustle up a spur-of-the-moment meal for friends, or how to treat yourself when you're home alone -- and since real cooking is so often about leftovers, here one recipe can morph into another . . . from ham hocks in cider to cidery pea soup, from "praised" chicken to Chinatown salad. This isn't just about being thrifty; it's about being creative and seeing how recipes evolve.

With 190 mouthwatering and inspiring recipes, including more than 60 express-style recipes (30 minutes or under), Nigella Kitchen offers plenty of choice--from clams with chorizo to Guinness gingerbread, from Asian braised beef shank to flourless chocolate lime cake, from pasta alla Genovese to Venetian carrot cake. In addition, Nigella presents her no-nonsense kitchen kit must-haves (and crucially what isn't needed) in the way of equipment and magical standby ingredients. But above all, she reminds the reader how much pleasure there is to be had in real food and in reclaiming the traditional rhythms of the kitchen, as she cooks to the beat of the heart of the home, creating simple, delicious recipes to make life less complicated

Gorgeously illustrated, this expansive, lively narrative, with its rich feast of food, is destined to be a twenty-first-century classic.

Nigella Kitchen

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Isabel Cañas

The Hacienda

b085fbfe-6e07-4335-bcc5-4ba18ebc1051-1

Ruth Emmie Lang

Ohioana Book Award finalist Ruth Emmie Lang returns with a new cast of ordinary characters with extraordinary abilities in The Wilderwomen.

Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared. The older of her two daughters, Zadie, should have seen it coming, because she can literally see things coming. But not even her psychic abilities were able to prevent their mother from vanishing one morning.

Zadie's estranged younger sister, Finn, can't see into the future, but she has an uncannily good memory, so good that she remembers not only her own memories, but the echoes of memories other people have left behind. On the afternoon of her graduation party, Finn is seized by an "echo" more powerful than anything she's experienced before: a woman singing a song she recognizes, a song about a bird...

When Finn wakes up alone in an aviary with no idea of how she got there, she realizes who the memory belongs to: Nora.

Now, it's up to Finn to convince her sister that not only is their mom still out there, but that she wants to be found. Against Zadie's better judgement, she and Finn hit the highway, using Finn's echoes to retrace Nora's footsteps and uncover the answer to the question that has been haunting them for years: Why did she leave?

But the more time Finn spends in their mother's past, the harder it is for her to return to the present, to return to herself. As Zadie feels her sister start to slip away, she will have to decide what lengths she is willing to go to find their mother, knowing that if she chooses wrong, she could lose them both for good.

The Wilderwomen

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A comedy writer thinks she's sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions--a hilarious, observant, and deeply tender novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Eligible, Rodham, and Prep.

"Whatever [Sittenfeld] writes, we'll read it."--People

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for The Night Owls, a late-night live comedy show that airs every Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she's long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally's friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actress who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show--and in society at large--who've gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the Danny Horst Rule, poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week's show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder if there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn't a romantic comedy--it's real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her . . . right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Curtis Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

Jessica Beer

@beingmrsbeer

Books Listed

Following

Followers

Ann Liang

A Song to Drown Rivers

Chelsea Bieker

Madwoman

Isabel Banta

Honey

Gabrielle Zevin

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Simone St. James

The Book of Cold Cases

Barbara Fairchild; Barbara Fairchild

Fast Easy Fresh

Barbara Fairchild

The Bon Appetit Cookbook

Mark Bittman

How to Cook Everything Fast

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Kitchen

Isabel Cañas

The Hacienda

Ruth Emmie Lang

The Wilderwomen

Curtis Sittenfeld

Romantic Comedy

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Ann Liang

A Song to Drown Rivers

Chelsea Bieker

Madwoman

Isabel Banta

Honey

Gabrielle Zevin

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Simone St. James

The Book of Cold Cases

Barbara Fairchild; Barbara Fairchild

Fast Easy Fresh

Barbara Fairchild

The Bon Appetit Cookbook

Mark Bittman

How to Cook Everything Fast

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Kitchen

Isabel Cañas

The Hacienda

Ruth Emmie Lang

The Wilderwomen

Curtis Sittenfeld

Romantic Comedy

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