Kat Tang

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Iowa

A Novel

In Kat Tang’s exciting and resonant debut, a “Rental Stranger”—a companion hired under various guises—walks the line between personal and professional in surprising new ways. Would you hire someone to be the best man at your wedding? Your stand-in brother? Your husband? In an age where online ratings are all-powerful, Five-Star Stranger follows the adventures of a top-rated man on the Rental Stranger app—a place where users can hire a pretend fiancé, a wingman, or an extra mourner for a funeral. Referred to only as Stranger, the narrator navigates New York City under the guise of characters he plays, always maintaining a professional distance from his clients. But, when a nosy patron threatens to upend his long-term role as father to a young girl, Stranger begins to reckon with his attachment to his pretend daughter, her mother, and his own fraught past. Now, he must confront the boundaries he has drawn and explore the legacy of abandonment that shaped his life. Five-Star Stranger is a strikingly vivid novel about the commodification of relationships in a gig economy, isolation in a hyperconnected world, and the risk of asking for what we want from those who cannot give. This is the story of a man who finds out who he is by being anyone but himself.

Five-Star Stranger

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Sara Ochs

Massachusetts

"Five years ago, Cass barely survived a brutal attack that left her family dead. Now a scuba diving instructor in Thailand, she has spent years trying to build a new, anonymous life for herself as one of the Permanents, a group of expats who have claimed the beautiful Thailand destination as their own. The permanents are charming, they're close-knit, and they don't linger on who they were before the island--they're the perfect group for Cass to finally shed her old self. But her dark past is about to catch up with her when Lucy, one of Cass' dive students, turns up dead and she starts getting messages from someone who has discovered who she really is. And that person will stop at nothing until Cass' truth is out and justice has been served"--

The Resort

16426d19-7a82-4257-bd2d-52c0ee1fa65b-0

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Pennsylvania

Lizzie Pook

A sweeping adventure story set between the frozen Arctic and Victorian London about a young woman whose search for the truth about her sister’s death may have fatal consequences. Twenty-year-old Constance Horton has run away from her life in Victorian London, disguising herself as a boy to board the Makepeace, an expedition vessel bound for the icy and unexplored Northwest Passage of the Arctic. She struggles to keep her real identity a secret on the ship, a feat that only grows more difficult when facing off with the constant dangers of the icy North. Even more dangerous than the cold, the storms, and the hunger, are some of the men aboard—including the ship’s scientist Edison Stowe. He seems to be watching Constance, and she knows that his attention could be fatal. In London two years later: Maude Horton is searching for the truth. After being told by the British Admiralty that her sister’s death onboard the Makepeace was nothing more than a tragic accident, she receives a diary revealing that Edison Stowe had more of a hand in Constance’s death than the returning crew acknowledged. In order to get the answers she needs, Maude decides to shadow Edison. She joins him on a new venture he’s started to capitalize on the murder mania that has all of London in a frenzy—a travel company that takes guests around the country via train to witness public hangings—to extract the truth from him in any way possible. As tensions and dangers mount, it ultimately falls to Maude to enact the ultimate revenge to get justice for her sister. Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is a transporting, atmospheric novel about the lengths we will go to for justice—and for love.

Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge

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West Virginia

Clare Beams

Texas

The discovery of a secret garden with unknown powers fuels this page-turning and psychologically thrilling tale of women yearning to become mothers and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated, from the award-winning author of The Illness Lesson ("A masterpiece" - Elizabeth Gilbert) In 1948, Irene Willard, who's had five previous miscarriages in a quest to give her beloved husband the child he desperately desires and is now pregnant again, comes to an isolated house-cum-hospital in the Berkshires, run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure for her condition. Warily, she enlists herself in the efforts of the Doctors Hall to "rectify the maternal environment," both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she also discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own powers and pulls. As the doctors' plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves--and must face the incalculable risks associated with such incalculable rewards. With shades of Shirley Jackson and Rosemary's Baby, The Garden delves into the territory of motherhood, childbirth, the mysteries of the female body, and the ways it has always been controlled and corralled.

The Garden

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California

South Carolina

New York

Oklahoma

Florida

Some small stains on the front cover- dust jacket unaffected

Jenny Hollander

A debut thriller about a woman who is trying to escape the past and the horrific event she witnessed at the prestigious journalism school she attended.

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

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New Jersey

Jennifer Gooch Hummer

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

In this colorful and humorous tale, a hopeful young painter finds herself embroiled in the world of art heists...and possibly responsible for the counterfeits needed to cover them up. Freshly graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, Veridian Sterling is ready to hang her work in any of the countless New York galleries that are sure to give her a show. The problem is only one will, and they're not interested in her art so much as her personal assistant skills. No glitz, no glam, and definitely none of the money she needs to help her struggling mother finally realize her dream of starting her own business after having sacrificed everything for Veri to go to art school. So when she overhears her new boss discussing the impressive finder's fee for a lost Van Gogh, Veri takes matters into her own hands. Maybe her own artwork isn't celebrated, but she knows how to copy what is, and maybe those skills can help lead to a discovery. But when a famous art dealer takes her under his wing (and his charming driver takes her interest), Veri realizes she's in deeper than she expected, and quite possibly with the wrong people. With her mother's dreams and her own future at stake, Veri will have to pull out every trick she can think of to wipe her canvas clean and erase the mess she's created before she goes down for someone else's crimes.

Veridian Sterling Fakes It

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Michigan

Terri Parlato

In this riveting thriller from a new master of suspense, a young dancer's homecoming is marred by a grisly discovery--and the realization that nothing in her past may be quite what she believed. When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it's time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme's high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters' house. Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother--and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé's imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara's murder have been a case of mistaken identity? Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust. Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind--and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .

What Waits in the Woods

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Alexander Sammartino

North Dakota

Following a near-death experience, an entrepreneurial father-and-son duo wreak havoc and fend off bankruptcy in this unflinching portrayal of the absurdities of American life. “Honest, highwire, virtuosic writing that summons up the world with all its charms and hazards.” —George Saunders, author of Liberation Day • “Funny as hell...Unputdownable.” —Mary Karr, author of Lit Even though his firearms store is failing, things are looking up for David Rizzo. His son, Nick, has just recovered after a near-fatal overdose, which means one thing: Rizzo can use Nick’s resurrection to create the most compelling television commercial for a gun emporium that the world has ever seen. After all, this is America, Rizzo tells himself. Surely anything is possible. But the relationship between father and son is fragile, mired in mutual disappointment. And when the pair embarks on their scheme to avoid bankruptcy, a high stakes crash of hijinks, hope, and disaster ensues. Featuring a cast of unforgettable characters, this razor-sharp social satire lays bare both the gun and opioid crises. Fans of Don DeLillo and Stephen Markley will be thrilled by this smart, inventive debut.

Last Acts

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Vi Keeland

Connecticut

This chilling, sizzling, and addictive thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Vi Keeland follows a New York psychiatrist’s dark descent into dangerous obsession. This isn’t a love story. It’s a story about obsession. After experiencing a terrible loss, New York City psychiatrist Meredith McCall feels painfully adrift. When she crosses paths with a man with whom she has a tragic connection, she follows him, sparking an unhealthy obsession with Gabriel Wright. How is he doing so well while her life is in shambles? But when Gabriel walks into her office as a patient, seemingly unaware of who she is, she knows it crosses all ethical and moral bounds to treat him. Yet, Meredith can’t bring herself to turn him away and becomes further entangled. With her life and career continuing to unravel, it appears that things could not get any worse…until they do.

The Unraveling

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Five Star Stranger

Virginia

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Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge

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Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead

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The Resort

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Veridian Sterling Fakes It

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What Waits in the Woods

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The Garden

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Last Acts

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The Resort

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The Unraveling

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The Resort