Editors Recommend: 14 Summer Reads “Shore” to Make Waves

June 13 2022
Share Editors Recommend: 14 Summer Reads “Shore” to Make Waves

When a manuscript is so good that it distracts an editor from the many other submissions in their inbox and keeps them reading long after the work day has ended, you know it’s a good one. The books on this list did just that, so they’re the perfect page-turners to bring on trips to the beach, park, or wherever summer takes you!

(And if you’re intrigued by Ann Leary’s THE FOUNDLING from the list below, check out this Instagram giveaway for a chance to win a copy!)

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
by Jamie Ford

“Jamie is charging out in a new direction with THE MANY DAUGHTERS OF AFONG MOY and yet still retaining the best qualities from his previous books: the truly wonderful writing, three-dimensional characters, terrific scenes and set pieces, and, of course, the beating heart of his books: humanity’s search for love and the deep need for it in their lives.” —Lindsay S., VP, Editorial Director

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The Many Daughters of Afong Moy
Jamie Ford

The New York Times bestselling author of the “mesmerizing and evocative” (Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants) Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet returns with a powerful exploration of the love that binds one family across the generations.

Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living.

As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.

Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.

As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.

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Last One Alive
by Amber Cowie

“I received LAST ONE ALIVE on submission in the afternoon, started reading it, and couldn’t stop until I was done in the evening! This utterly addictive ‘closed-door’ thriller not only had me utterly enthralled with its chills and thrills, it also compellingly explores themes of feminism and revisionist history. I cannot wait to see what Amber does next!” —Laurie G., Senior Editor

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Last One Alive
Amber Cowie

A team of researchers exploring the myth of a witch find their numbers mysteriously dwindling in this irresistible psychological thriller for fans of Ruth Ware, Shari Lapena, and Lucy Foley.

Bestselling debut novelist Penelope Berkowitz is desperate for inspiration for a second book. With the help of her new boyfriend, she embarks on a research trip with a Clue-like team of professionals, ex-lovers, and estranged family members to investigate the myth of a witch on Stone Point, a remote coastal outcropping in the Pacific Northwest.

For over a century, the cabin on the point stood vacant after the violent death of the original owner and the disappearance of his wife—until a young couple decided to turn it into an eco-lodge. Shortly after starting renovations, however, they suddenly ceased all contact with others and were never heard from again.

Given the area’s mysterious history, Penelope is certain there’s a story to be found in the isolated region. But soon after arriving on the point’s wind-whipped shores, things begin to go awry for the team. Storms blow in. Tempers flare. The satellite phones stop working and no boats are due for days. Then people begin to disappear. When bodies turn up, it’s up to Penelope and the remaining members of the team to solve the mystery of the Stone Witch before the killer is the only one left alive.

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The Foundling
by Ann Leary

“Almost a decade ago, Ann Leary discovered a fascinating detail in her grandmother’s history that led her down a rabbit hole of research—and inspired her to create the indelible fictional characters you’ll meet in THE FOUNDLING: Mary Engel, Lillian Faust, and Dr. Agnes Vogel. One is hired in a coveted secretarial role; one is an inmate; and one is the renowned and widely admired president of the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. The fates of these characters are inextricably linked—each harbors knowledge and secrets about the other; each has an agenda ranging from survival to escape to glory. Through them, Leary sheds light on the dark, government-sanctioned practice of eugenics in the twentieth century.” –Marysue Rucci, Publisher, Editor in Chief

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The Foundling
Ann Leary

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good House, the story of two friends, raised in the same orphanage, whose loyalty is put to the ultimate test when they meet years later at a controversial institution—one as an employee; the other, an inmate.

It’s 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. She’s immediately in awe of her employer—brilliant, genteel Dr. Agnes Vogel.

Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a young psychiatrist she was an outspoken crusader for women’s suffrage. Now, at age forty, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care.

Soon after she’s hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphanage is one of the inmates. Mary remembers Lillian as a beautiful free spirit with a sometimes-tempestuous side. Could she be mentally disabled? When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret? Mary’s decision triggers a hair-raising sequence of events with life-altering consequences for all.

Inspired by a true story about the author’s grandmother, The Foundling offers a rare look at a shocking chapter of American history. This gripping page-turner will have readers on the edge of their seats right up to the stunning last page…asking themselves, “Did this really happen here?”

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The Darkness in the Light
by Daniel Kalla

“When Daniel Kalla and I were first discussing his ideas for THE DARKNESS IN THE LIGHT, I was so taken by the unusual structure he said he wanted to use to tell this story about a psychiatrist and one of his patients, who has gone missing. And when he delivered the manuscript, I was blown away by what he’d accomplished. This is a masterful tale of damaged characters, the secrets they hide—from themselves, not just others—all presented in an evocative Arctic setting.” —Laurie G., Senior Editor

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The Darkness in the Light
Daniel Kalla

A psychiatrist’s patients are dying—are they suicides related to a new antidepressant, or is there something even more sinister going on in the northernmost town in the US? A riveting new thriller from internationally bestselling author Daniel Kalla.

After Brianna O’Brien takes her own life, Dr. David Spears blames himself. Though he understands suicides can be a tragic occurrence in psychiatric practice, this loss hits him particularly hard. With Brianna, he’s convinced he missed crucial warning signs. When David suspects Brianna’s friend, Amka Obed—whom he’s also been treating virtually—is in crisis, he flies to the remote Arctic community of Utqiagvik, Alaska, only to discover that she has disappeared.

While the regional police are confident that Amka will turn up safe, David and the town’s social worker, Taylor Holmes, have serious doubts. Each battling their own demons, David and Taylor launch an investigation, determined to help uncover the truth about what happened to Amka. David wonders if a new antidepressant he recently prescribed both Amka and Brianna played a role in what took place. Taylor, who’s familiar with the locals, suspects a drug lord with connections to Amka’s boyfriend.

Who is right? Where is Amka? Is she still alive?

What begins as a missing persons inquiry and suspicion over a pharmaceutical cover-up quickly evolves into a terrifying journey of treachery and death—one that will horrify this isolated town and endanger many more lives.

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The Summer Place
by Jennifer Weiner

“Expansive and moving, hilarious and heartwarming, meaningful and magnetic, I absolutely loved this story of a sprawling family reconvening in the place of their youth, a place sincerely special to them, for one last hurrah. Everything that comes before and proceeds their reunion captivated me. I adored these characters, every last one of them. Even the more secondary characters took my breath away. They are all exceedingly three-dimensional and reach-out-and-touch-them true. I absolutely loved it, and I cannot wait for readers to discover it. We’re back to the beach, but with so many secrets, so much drama, so much on the line, so much to learn and discover.” —Lindsay S., VP, Editorial Director

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The Summer Place
Jennifer Weiner

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of That Summer comes another heartfelt and unputdownable novel of family, secrets, and the ties that bind.

When her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is shocked. But the wheels are in motion. Headstrong Ruby has already set a date (just three months away!) and spoken to her beloved safta, Sarah’s mother Veronica, about having the wedding at the family’s beach house in Cape Cod. Sarah might be worried, but Veronica is thrilled to be bringing the family together one last time before putting the big house on the market.

But the road to a wedding day usually comes with a few bumps. Ruby has always known exactly what she wants, but as the wedding date approaches, she finds herself grappling with the wounds left by the mother who walked out when she was a baby. Veronica ends up facing unexpected news, thanks to her meddling sister, and must revisit the choices she made long ago, when she was a bestselling novelist with a different life. Sarah’s twin brother, Sam, is recovering from a terrible loss, and confronting big questions about who he is—questions he hopes to resolve during his stay on the Cape. Sarah’s husband, Eli, who’s been inexplicably distant during the pandemic, confronts the consequences of a long ago lapse from his typical good-guy behavior. And Sarah, frustrated by her husband, concerned about her stepdaughter, and worn out by challenges of life during quarantine, faces the alluring reappearance of someone from her past and a life that could have been.

When the wedding day arrives, lovers are revealed as their true selves, misunderstandings take on a life of their own, and secrets come to light. There are confrontations and revelations that will touch each member of the extended family, ensuring that nothing will ever be the same.

From “the undisputed boss of the beach read” (The New York Times), The Summer Place is a testament to family in all its messy glory; a story about what we sacrifice and how we forgive. Enthralling, witty, big-hearted, and sharply observed, this is Jennifer Weiner’s love letter to the Outer Cape and the power of home, the way our lives are enriched by the people we call family, and the endless ways love can surprise us.

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Keya Das's Second Act
by Sopan Deb

“I love how clever and sharp, as well as culturally immersive, this book is. I also love that despite there being a death at the dramatic center, this isn’t a book that languishes in grief—it’s an homage to family, creativity, and second changes. Deb also beautifully renders the vibrancy of second-generation immigrant life while offering an immigrant story that isn’t mired in strife and tragedy. It’s a book that both makes you well up and laugh out loud.” —Emily G., Senior Editor

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Keya Das's Second Act
Sopan Deb

A poignant, heartwarming, and charmingly funny debut novel about how a discovered box in the attic leads one Bengali American family down a path toward understanding the importance of family, even when splintered.

Shantanu Das is living in the shadows of his past. In his fifties, he finds himself isolated from his traditional Bengali community after a devastating divorce from his wife, Chaitali; he hasn’t spoken to his eldest daughter Mitali in months; and most painfully, he lives each day with the regret that he didn’t accept his teenaged daughter Keya after she came out as gay. As the anniversary of Keya’s death approaches, Shantanu wakes up one morning utterly alone in his suburban New Jersey home and realizes it’s finally time to move on.

This is when Shantanu discovers a tucked-away box in the attic that could change everything. He calls Mitali and pleads with her to come home. She does so out of pity, not realizing that her life is about to shift.

Inside the box is an unfinished manuscript that Keya and her girlfriend were writing. It’s a surprising discovery that brings Keya to life briefly. But Neesh Desai, a new love interest for Mitali with regrets of his own, comes up with a wild idea, one that would give Keya more permanence: what if they are to stage the play? It could be an homage to Keya’s memory, and a way to make amends. But first, the Dases need to convince Pamela Moore, Keya’s girlfriend, to give her blessing. And they have to overcome ghosts from the past they haven’t met yet.

A story of redemption and righting the wrongs of the past, Keya Das’s Second Act is a warmly drawn homage to family, creativity, and second chances. Set in the vibrant world of Bengalis in the New Jersey suburbs, this debut novel is both poignant and, at times, a surprising hilarious testament to the unexpected ways we build family and find love, old and new.

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Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter
by Lizzie Pook

“I’m not someone who frequently falls for historical fiction, but when I do fall, I fall hard. The works of historical fiction I love most share some common DNA: they prioritize character and voice as much as worldbuilding, they explore timeless themes of human love, longing, and loss, and they feature badass female protagonists. MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER’S DAUGHTER checks all of these boxes and more. It features a gutsy young woman who bucks tradition and adventures into the dangerous mangroves and seas of Western Australia to find the truth behind her father’s disappearance. Lizzie Pook brings the natural world to vivid life on the page, but she gives equal weight to the politics of British colonialism and the way they turned Western Australia into a land of profit (for themselves) and peril.” —Carina G., Senior Editor

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Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter
Lizzie Pook

For readers of The Light Between Oceans and The Island of Sea Women, a feminist adventure story set against the backdrop of the dangerous pearl diving industry in 19th-century Western Australia, about a young English woman who sets off to uncover the truth about the disappearance of her eccentric father.

Western Australia, 1886. After months at sea, a slow boat makes its passage from London to the shores of Bannin Bay. From the deck, young Eliza Brightwell and her family eye their strange, new home. Here is an unforgiving land where fortune sits patiently at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be claimed by those brave enough to venture into its depths. An ocean where pearl shells bloom to the size of soup plates, where men are coaxed into unthinkable places and unspeakable acts by the promise of unimaginable riches.

Ten years later, the pearl-diving boat captained by Eliza’s eccentric father returns after months at sea—without Eliza’s father on it. Whispers from townsfolk point to mutiny or murder. Headstrong Eliza knows it’s up to her to discover who, or what, is really responsible.

As she searches for the truth, Eliza discovers that beneath the glamorous veneer of the pearling industry, lies a dark underbelly of sweltering, stinking decay. The sun-scorched streets of Bannin Bay, a place she once thought she knew so well, are teeming with corruption, prejudice, and blackmail. Just how far is Eliza willing to push herself in order to solve the mystery of her missing father? And what family secrets will come to haunt her along the way?

A transporting feminist adventure story based on Lizzie Pook’s deep research into the pearling industry and the era of British colonial rule in Australia, Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter is ultimately about the lengths one woman will travel to save her family.

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Please Join Us
by Catherine McKenzie

“Catherine McKenzie knows how to write a twisty ending, and this one certainly delivers. PLEASE JOIN US has all the hallmarks of a great suspense novel—a secretive group, a woman at a crossroads, and a crime that might not be all it seems to be. The shocking conclusion pulls together all the pieces while leaving the reader guessing.” —Kaitlin O., Editor

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Please Join Us
Catherine McKenzie

A “propulsive thriller about secret organizations, hidden agendas, and the lengths one woman will go to reclaim her life” (Laura Dave, author of Reese’s Book Club Pick The Last Thing He Told Me) from USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine McKenzie.

At thirty-nine, Nicole Mueller’s life is on the rocks. Her once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo. Membership is anonymous, but every member is a successful professional. It sounds like the perfect solution to help Nicole revive her career. So, despite Dan’s concerns that the group might be a cult, Nicole signs up for their retreat in Colorado.

Once there, she meets the other women who will make up her Pride. A CEO, an actress, a finance whiz, a congresswoman: Nicole can’t believe her luck. The founders of Panthera Leo are equally as impressive. They explain the group’s core philosophy: they’re a girl’s club in a boy’s club world.

Nicole is all in. And when she gets home, she soon sees dividends. Her new network quickly provides her with clients that help her relaunch her career, and a great new apartment too. The favors she has to provide in return seem benign. But then she’s called to the congresswoman’s apartment late at night where she’s pressed into helping her cover up a crime. And suddenly, Dan’s concerns that something more sinister is at play seem all too relevant. Can Nicole extricate herself from the group before it’s too late? Or will joining Panthera Leo be the biggest mistake of her life?

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Good Morning, Love
by Ashley M. Coleman

“I love a solid romance; GOOD MORNING, LOVE is that and so much more. Ashley M. Coleman’s debut novel is bursting with personality and wit. I found myself instantly sucked into the world of a young Afro-Latinx woman named Carli whose professional and creative dreams become complicated when she crosses paths with a rising R&B pop star, who happens to be devastatingly attractive and charming. Besides being a fun, breezy story, this novel is filled with timely themes—like the difficulty of working in male-dominated worlds—and of course, an ambitious, lovable female lead I couldn’t help but root for.” —Lashanda A., Assistant Editor

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Good Morning, Love
Ashley M. Coleman

For fans of My (Not So) Perfect Life and Jasmine Guillory’s While We Were Dating, a disarmingly fun debut novel follows Carlisa Henton as her life comes undone after a chance meeting with a rising pop star.

Carlisa “Carli” Henton is a musician and songwriter hoping to follow in her father’s musical footsteps. But, biding her time until she makes it big in the music industry, she works as a junior account manager at a big-name media company to cover her New York City rent. Carli meticulously balances her work with her musical endeavors as a songwriter—until a chance meeting with rising star Tau Anderson sends her calculated world into a frenzy. Their worlds collide and quickly blur the strict lines Carli has drawn between her business and her personal life, throwing Carli’s reputation—and her burgeoning songwriting career—into question.

A smart, timely, energizing romance, Good Morning, Love shows us what the glamorous New York’s music scene is really like and takes us into the lives of a rising but somewhat troubled R&B star and a promising protégé who knows her job better than she knows herself.

With fresh and honest prose, Good Morning, Love examines the uncertainty of being a new professional looking to chase a dream while also trying to survive in a world that’s not always kind to ambitious women.

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Magpie
by Elizabeth Day

“Reading MAGPIE reminded me of the first time I read GONE GIRL. And—no spoilers!—by the time you get to the second half of the novel, you’ll see what I mean. This is a twisty, jaw-dropping book that ends up not being the book you started out reading. And it’s not just propulsive! It is also a serious examination of motherhood and fertility and what it means to make a family—and how easily everything can be taken away.” —Carina G., Senior Editor

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Magpie
Elizabeth Day

She has almost everything. The rest she’ll take.

For fans of Gone Girl and The Perfect Nanny, a taut, psychological suspense novel about a perfect couple and their seemingly perfect roommate—that is until she threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create.

Marisa and Jake are a perfect couple. And Kate, their new lodger, is the perfect roommate—and not just because her rent payments will give them the income they need to start trying for the baby of their dreams.

Except—no one is truly perfect. Sure, Kate doesn’t seem to care much about personal boundaries and can occasionally seem overly-familiar with Jake. But Marisa doesn’t let it concern her, knowing that soon Kate will be gone, and it will just be her, Jake, and their future baby.

Conceiving a baby is easier said than done, though, and Jake and Marisa’s perfect relationship is put to the test through months of fertility treatments and false starts. To make matters worse, Kate’s boundary-pushing turns into an all-out obsession—with Jake, with Marisa, and with their future child. Who is this woman? Why does she seem to know everything about Marisa and Jake?

In her quest to find out who Kate really is, Marisa might destroy everything she’s worked so hard to create—her perfect romance, her perfect family, and her perfect self.

Jake doesn’t know the half of what Marisa has created—and what she stands to lose.

For fans of Gone Girl and The Perfect Nanny, Magpie is a tense and twisting novel about mothers and children, envy and possession, and the dangers of getting everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

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Properties of Thirst
by Marianne Wiggins

“I was lucky enough to inherit PROPERTIES OF THIRST, and when I first saw the size of the bound manuscript arrived in the mail, I thought it would take me a long time to read. But I read it in just two (long) sittings, almost holding my breath the entire time. From the very first pages, I knew that everything I’d heard about Marianne Wiggins was true, and that I was in the hands of a master. She has such command of language—but isn’t afraid to be playful, too!—and her characters, and their longings and losses and all-consuming loves just breathe with so much life. These are characters who go against the grain, who aren’t afraid to fight for what they believe in or for the people they love. By the end of PROPERTIES OF THIRST, they felt like family to me.” —Carina G., Senior Editor, 

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Properties of Thirst
Marianne Wiggins

Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a novel destined to be an American classic: a sweeping masterwork set during World War II about the meaning of family and the limitations of the American Dream.

Rockwell “Rocky” Rhodes has spent years fiercely protecting his California ranch from the LA Water Corporation. It is here where he and his beloved wife Lou raised their twins, Sunny and Stryker, and it is here where Rocky has mourned Lou in the years since her death.

As Sunny and Stryker reach the cusp of adulthood, the country teeters on the brink of war. Stryker decides to join the fight, deploying to Pearl Harbor not long before the bombs strike. Soon, Rocky and his family find themselves facing yet another incomprehensible tragedy.

Rocky is determined to protect his remaining family and the land where they’ve loved and lost so much. But when the government decides to build a Japanese-American internment camp next to the ranch, Rocky realizes that the land faces even bigger threats than the LA watermen he’s battled for years. Complicating matters is the fact that the idealistic Department of the Interior man assigned to build the camp, who only begins to understand the horror of his task after it may be too late, becomes infatuated with Sunny and entangled with the Rhodes family.

Properties of Thirst is a novel that is both universal and intimate. It is the story of a changing American landscape and an examination of one of the darkest periods in this country’s past, told through the stories of the individual loves and losses that weave together to form the fabric of our shared history. Ultimately, it is an unflinching distillation of our nation’s essence—and a celebration of the bonds of love and family that persist against all odds.

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Grave Reservations
by Cherie Priest

“I'm rarely drawn to mysteries and thrillers with a supernatural twist, but this hooked me from the first pages. The fresh, funny voice kept me laughing even as the story drew darker and the body count soared. This is a book that brings levity to darkness, something we all could use now and in the future.” —Kaitlin O., Editor

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Grave Reservations
Cherie Priest

A psychic travel agent and a Seattle PD detective solve a murder in this quirky mystery in the vein of Lisa Lutz’s The Spellman Files and Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series.

Meet Leda Foley: devoted friend, struggling travel agent, and inconsistent psychic. When Leda, sole proprietor of Foley's Flights of Fancy, impulsively re-books Seattle PD detective Grady Merritt’s flight, her life changes in ways she couldn’t have predicted.

After watching his original plane blow up from the safety of the airport, Grady realizes that Leda’s special abilities could help him with a cold case he just can’t crack.

Despite her scattershot premonitions, she agrees for a secret reason: her fiancé’s murder remains unsolved. Leda’s psychic abilities couldn’t help the case several years before, but she’s been honing her skills and drawing a crowd at her favorite bar’s open-mic nights, where she performs Klairvoyant Karaoke—singing whatever song comes to mind when she holds people’s personal effects. Now joined by a rag-tag group of bar patrons and pals alike, Leda and Grady set out to catch a killer—and learn how the two cases that haunt them have more in common than they ever suspected.

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See You Yesterday
by Rachel Lynn Solomon

“The talented Rachel Lynn Solomon is back with another rom-com, but with a twist as we dive into a time loop with two characters who loathe each other—but must work together to figure out how to fix their predicament. An enemies-to-lovers romance that focuses on two people who have no one else to rely on but each other. That’s romance gold!” —Nicole E., Senior Editor

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See You Yesterday
Rachel Lynn Solomon

From the author of Today Tonight Tomorrow comes a magical romance in the vein of Groundhog Day about a girl forced to relive her disastrous first day of college—only to discover that her nemesis is stuck in the time loop with her.

Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.

The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.

When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?

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Watch Out for Her
by Samantha M. Bailey

“WATCH OUT FOR HER is about mothers and daughters in search of the thing they need most—love. It’s also about women whose instincts to keep watch over their loved ones begins innocently enough, but over time, they find themselves slowly cross an invisible line. Once they’ve gone too far, there’s no way to go back to the domestic lives they had before. This book is compulsively readable, the kind of novel that gets passed from friend to sister to mother to book club buddy with the best kind of caution for a thriller: ‘Read it. Because you won’t be able to put it down.’” —Nita P., VP, Editorial Director

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Watch Out for Her
Samantha M. Bailey

A tense psychological thriller about a mother who must keep watch at all times if she wants to keep her family safe—from USA TODAY and #1 national bestselling author Samantha M. Bailey.

Wherever you go…
she’ll be watching.

Sarah Goldman, mother to six-year-old Jacob, is relieved to move across the country. She has a lot she wants to leave behind, especially Holly Monroe, the pretty twenty-two-year-old babysitter she and her husband, Daniel, hired to take care of their young son last summer. It started out as a perfect arrangement—Sarah had a childminder her son adored, and Holly found the mother figure she’d always wanted. But Sarah’s never been one to trust very easily, so she kept a close eye on Holly, maybe too close at times. What she saw raised some questions, not only about who Holly really was but what she was hiding. The more Sarah watched, the more she learned—until one day, she saw something she couldn’t unsee, something so shocking that all she could do was flee.

Sarah has put it all behind her and is starting over in a different city with her husband and son. They’ve settled into a friendly suburb where the neighbors, a tight clique of good citizens, are always on the lookout for danger. But when Sarah finds hidden cameras in her new home, she has to wonder: Has her past caught up to her, and worse yet, who’s watching her now?

A spine-tingling, page-turning novel from USA TODAY and #1 national bestselling author Samantha M. Bailey, Watch Out for Her is psychological suspense at its very best—a chilling look at trust, voyeurism, and obsession in the modern age, and how far we will go to watch out for those we love.

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Photo credit: iStock / Esther Kelleter

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