-
Hell Bent
#1 New York Times Bestseller - Goodreads Choice Award Winner
"A tour de force of suspenseful pacing and empathetic writing." ―The New York Times "All hail the queen of dark academia!" ―NPR Wealth. Power. Murder. Magic. The Ivy League is going straight to hell in the sequel to the smash New York Times bestseller Ninth House from #1 bestselling author Leigh Bardugo. Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy "Alex" Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory--even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale. Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can't call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies' most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren't just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she'll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university's very walls. Thick with history and packed with Bardugo's signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters. -
Boys with Sharp Teeth
We Were Liars meets The Raven Boys in this mind-bending YA debut about dark revenge, twisted desire, and the sinister secrets lurking behind the walls of an elite boarding school.
"A darkly delicious spiral where each page makes you crave more." ―CG Drews, author of Don't Let The Forest In
"A stunningly lush, utterly compelling, darkly beautiful debut!" ―Ginny Myers Sain, New York Times bestselling author of Dark and Shallow Lies Seventeen-year-old Marin James has spent her entire life living in the shadow of the exclusive Huntsworth Academy. And when her cousin's dead body is found in a creek on school property, Marin knows exactly who's to blame: Adrian Hargraves and Henry Wu, the enigmatic yet dangerously alluring leaders of the school's social elite. Swapping her ripped jeans for a crisp prep school skirt, Marin infiltrates Huntsworth to seek justice. But her quest is quickly muddied by a confusing attraction to her new life, and to the two dysfunctional and depraved boys who somehow understand her better than anyone ever has. When Marin uncovers an otherworldly secret the boys are hiding within Huntsworth's ivied gates, the lines between right and wrong, love and hate, and nightmare and reality begin to crumble -- and nothing is as it seems. Welcome to Huntsworth Academy. -
Something in the Walls
A Library Reads Pick!
Most Anticipated by Goodreads, E! News, BookRiot, and more! Unbearably tense, utterly propulsive, and studded with folklore and horror, Something in the Walls is perfect for anyone who loves Midsommar and The Haunting of Hill House. Newly-minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she's been unable to get her feet wet. Instead she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain, and anxiously contemplating her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother's death from years ago. That is, until she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day. And he has a proposition for her. Alice Webber is a thirteen year old girl who claims she's being haunted by a witch. Living with her family in their crowded home in the remote village of Banathel, Alice's symptoms are increasingly disturbing, and money is tight. Taking this job will give Mina some experience; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better, Mina is sure of it. But instead of improving, Alice's behavior becomes increasingly inexplicable and intense. The town of Banathel has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of...dealing with it. And they don't expect outsiders to understand. As Mina races to uncover the truth behind Alice's condition, the dark cracks of Banathel begin to show. Mina is desperate to understand how deep their sinister traditions go-and how her own past may be the biggest threat of all. "Unexpected, mesmerizing, and totally original...will keep you guessing until its wild end." -#1 International Bestselling author Darby Kane "Harrowing and moving...Pearce has written something magical. There are scenes in this book I'll never forget." -Kristi DeMeester, author of Such a Pretty Smile -
River Has Roots
AN INDIE NEXT AND LIBRARYREADS PICK!
The hardcover edition features beautiful interior illustrations and a foil case stamp. "Half delicious murder ballad, half beguiling love story." --Holly Black - "An absolute must-read." --T. Kingfisher - "Every sentence sings!" --Sarah Beth Durst - "Utterly enchanting." --Fonda Lee - "A story that outlasts itself." --Alix E. Harrow - "Truly exquisite." --Zoraida Córdova - "A beautiful, musical, and loving story." --Emma Törzs "Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath." In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family. There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family's latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters' bond but also their lives will be at risk...
The River Has Roots is the hugely anticipated solo debut of the New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award winning author Amal El-Mohtar. Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death. -
When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance
NOW A USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
A gorgeously composed look at the longstanding relationship between prehistoric plants and life on Earth Fossils plants allow us to touch the lost worlds from billions of years of evolutionary backstory. Each petrified leaf and root show us that dinosaurs, saber-toothed cats, and even humans would not exist without the evolutionary efforts of their leafy counterparts. It has been the constant growth of plants that have allowed so many of our favorite, fascinating prehistoric creatures to evolve, oxygenating the atmosphere, coaxing animals onto land, and forming the forests that shaped our ancestors' anatomy. It is impossible to understand our history without them. Or, our future. Using the same scientifically-informed narrative technique that readers loved in the award-winning The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, in When the Earth Was Green, Riley Black brings readers back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Each chapter stars plants and animals alike, underscoring how the interactions between species have helped shape the world we call home. As the chapters move upwards in time, Black guides readers along the burgeoning trunk of the Tree of Life, stopping to appreciate branches of an evolutionary story that links the world we know with one we can only just perceive now through the silent stone, from ancient roots to the present.
Winner, A Friend of Darwin Award, 2024 -
Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century
Based on the rare and until now overlooked journal of a Renaissance-era executioner, the noted historian Joel F. Harrington's "The Faithful Executioner" takes us deep inside the alien world and thinking of Meister Frantz Schmidt of Nuremberg, who, during forty-five years as a professional executioner, personally put to death 394 individuals and tortured, flogged, or disfigured many hundreds more. But the picture that emerges of Schmidt from his personal papers is not that of a monster. Could a man who routinely practiced such cruelty also be insightful, compassionate even progressive?
In "The Faithful Executioner," Harrington vividly re-creates a life filled with stark contrasts, from the young apprentice's rigorous training under his executioner father to the adult Meister Frantz's juggling of familial duties with his work in the torture chamber and at the scaffold. With him we encounter brutal highwaymen, charming swindlers, and tragic unwed mothers accused of infanticide, as well as patrician senators, godly chaplains, and corrupt prison guards. Harrington teases out the hidden meanings and drama of Schmidt's journal, uncovering a touching tale of inherited shame and attempted redemption for the social pariah and his children. "The Faithful Executioner" offers not just the compelling firsthand perspective of a professional torturer and killer, but testimony of one man's lifelong struggle to reconcile his bloody craft with his deep religious faith.
The biography of an ordinary man struggling for his soul, this groundbreaking book also offers an unparalleled panoramic view of Europe on the cusp of modernity, a society riven by violent conflict at all levels and encumbered by paranoia, superstition, and abuses of power. Thanks to an extraordinary historical source and its gifted interpreter, we recognize far more of ourselves than we might have expected in this intimate portrait of a professional killer from a faraway world." -
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng: A Darkly Funny, Gory, and Ghostly Horror Novel (Original)
"A compelling, gory, ghostly romp."
--Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie
"This is what it felt like to live in New York City during lockdown: haunted, absurd, terrifying, ridiculous, and full of hungry ghosts."
--Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House
In this explosive horror novel, a woman is haunted by inner trauma, hungry ghosts, and a serial killer as she confronts the brutal violence experienced by East Asians during the pandemic.
Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she's already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.
Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.
So the bloody messes don't really bother Cora--she's more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can't be sure what's real and what's in her head.
She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can't ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.
As Cora will soon learn, you can't just ignore hungry ghosts.
For fans of Stephen Graham Jones and Gretchen Felker-Martin, Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng is a wildly original, darkly humorous, and subversive contemporary novel from a striking new voice in horror.
-
Echo Machine: How Right-Wing Extremism Created a Post-Truth America
"For anyone who wants to stand up to disinformation and deepen their understanding of politics without getting lost in jargon, this book is essential reading."
--Brian Tyler Cohen, YouTuber and bestselling author of Shameless From the host of The David Pakman Show comes a vital look at how right-wing extremism has led to the fall of critical thinking and rise of reactionary politics--and what we can do about it to save our democracy "In a time when political engagement is more crucial than ever, this is a must-read for every American."
--Barbara McQuade, bestselling author of Attack from Within Known for providing incisive progressive political analysis without being dogmatic, popular radio and podcast host David Pakman delves into the vicious cycle of reactionary political ideology. If there is one thing the 2024 election cycle showed us, it's how the right-wing has benefited and capitalized on disinformation and the polarization of US politics. Critical thinking and media literacy are on a rapid decline, and our republic is unable to agree upon a shared set of facts. Infused with Pakman's signature pragmatic insight and examples from real-world debates, The Echo Machine is an invitation to think, question, and understand how we got to this point and what we can do to mend our broken system. Readers will learn how our political system has transformed into a toxic echo chamber, why leftism offers a better path forward to society's most pressing issues, and how we can improve discourse with critical thinking, media literacy, and public education. Deeply researched and accessibly written, Pakman's work calmly cuts through the alarmist noise to inspire readers across the political spectrum to break out of our toxic political echo chambers and ultimately save our democracy. -
Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne
"Darkly funny, shocking, and unblinking, The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is a tour de force"--C.J. Box, author of Battle Mountain "An explosive thriller that leaps from the blocks and races to the finish...Babs Dionne herself is nothing short of a human keg of dynamite." -Justin Cronin, author of The Ferryman "A furious page-turner that kept me up way past my bedtime." -Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook
When crime matriarch Babs Dionne's youngest daughter is found dead, she will stop at nothing to uncover the truth--or get her revenge. Your ancestors breathe through you. Sometimes, they call for vengeance.
Babs Dionne, proud Franco-American, doting grandmother, and vicious crime matriarch, rules her small town of Waterville, Maine, with an iron fist. She controls the flow of drugs into Little Canada with the help of her loyal lieutenants, girlfriends since they were teenagers, and her eldest daughter, Lori, a Marine vet struggling with addiction. When a drug kingpin discovers that his numbers are down in the upper northeast, he sends a malevolent force, known only as The Man, to investigate. At the same time, Babs's youngest daughter, Sis, has gone missing, which doesn't seem at all like a coincidence. In twenty-four hours, Sis will be found dead, and the whole town will seek shelter from Babs's wrath. The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is a gripping, propulsive, darkly funny thriller, with a ferocious matriarch at its bruised, beating heart. Award-winning author Ron Currie delivers an unforgettable crime saga about love, duty, and vengeance. -
Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook: Seasonal Recipes for Everyday Luxury and Elevated Entertaining
Learn to cook, host, and eat like a private chef with 100 recipes from Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen. Inspired by years working as a chef in New York City and the Hamptons, as well as her childhood summers on Nantucket, Meredith Hayden makes food that is both unfussy and elegant--often with a touch of whimsy. In The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook, Meredith teaches you to cook like a professional hostess (and have fun while doing it). This is the kind of food to celebrate every season of life; the kind of cooking you don't start until you've made yourself a drink first. Recipes range from 20-minute meals to show-stopping centerpieces, all fit for your next dinner party. Here you'll find big salads (Blueberry BBQ Grilled Chicken Salad) and sharable sammies (the Ultimate Italian); there are your starters, your grazers, your chatting-with-friends snackers like Hot Crab Dip and Really Good Guac. Serve the Pink Lemon Pasta when friends come over after work or pack up the Farro Broccoli Salad for lunch the next day. Snack on an Heirloom Tomato Galette and veg out on Asparagus Fries with Feta. Your authority on all things seafood, Meredith shows you the easiest way to break down a lobster so that you can use it in a number of recipes like the Lobster Avocado Salad and Wok Lobster. Or how to shuck oysters so you can enjoy them grilled or with a yuzu kosho mignonette. Throw your own Nantucket Clam Bake, why not? With sharp, witty commentary, themed menus, and gorgeous imagery, The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook will inspire you to rediscover the joy in cooking, romanticize your grocery hauls, and find any excuse to celebrate with friends and family. -
Bull Moon Rising
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The special first edition hardcover will include a gorgeous, shimmering jacket with effects, brilliantly illustrated four-color endpapers, striking and detailed-stained edges, and a beautiful foil-stamped case. In a world of magical artifacts and fantastical beings, a woman determined to save her family joins forces with an unlikely partner--a minotaur--in this steamy romantasy by USA Today bestselling author Ruby Dixon. As a Holder's daughter, Aspeth Honori knows the importance of magical artifacts . . . which is why it's a disaster that her father has gambled all theirs away. Now that her family is in danger of losing their hold--and their heads--if anyone finds out the truth, Aspeth decides to do something about it. She'll join the Royal Artifactual Guild and the adventurers who explore ancient underground ruins to retrieve the coveted arcane items. It's a great plan--with one big problem. The guild won't let her train because she's a woman. Aspeth needs a chaperone of some kind. The best way to get around this problem? Marry someone who will let her become an apprentice. Who better than a surly guild member who requires a favor of his own? He's a minotaur (it's fine) who is her teacher (also fine) . . . and he's about to go into rut (which is where it gets tricky). He also has no idea she's a noble (oops), and he'll want nothing to do with her if he discovers her real identity. Now Aspeth just has to pass the guild tests, thwart a fortune hunter, and save her hold--oh, and survive a rut with her monstrous, horned husband, whom she might be falling in love with. It's time to dig deep. Literally. -
Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference
From the author of the New York Times bestsellers Humankind and Utopia for Realists--"a more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell" (The New York Times)--comes a bold manifesto daring us to harness our talents and transform our idealism into action, all with the goal of making the world a wildly better place. A career consists of 2,000 workweeks, and how you spend that time is one of the most important decisions of your life. Still, millions of people are stuck in in mind-numbing, pointless, or just plain harmful jobs. There's an antidote to this waste of talent, and it's called moral ambition. Moral ambition is the will to be among the best, but with different measures of success. Not a fancy title, fat salary, or corner office, but a career dedicated to the best solutions to the world's biggest problems-- whether that means tackling climate change, making pandemics history or fighting Big Tobacco. In Moral Ambition, internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman reveals how our conventional definitions of success are harming us and the planet, and shows how we can shift the focus from personal gain to societal benefit. In the process, he explains, we will join a growing movement of pioneers who are already living out this ethos. They're the builders, the problem-solvers, the doers who have chosen a path less traveled. A guidebook to finding that path for ourselves, Moral Ambition reminds us that the real measure of success lies not in what we accumulate, but in what we contribute, and shows how we, too, can build a legacy that truly matters. -
Fair Play
"Louise Hegarty's genre-splicing debut is a treat--clever, confident, and always surprising, a mystery story that ingeniously escapes the locked room of the genre to take on the biggest questions of life and death."--Paul Murray, author of The Bee Sting
For fans of Anthony Horowitz and Lucy Foley, a wonderfully original, genre-breaking literary debut from Ireland that's an homage to the brilliant detective novels of the early twentieth century, a twisty modern murder mystery, and a searing exploration of grief and loss.
A group of friends gather at an Airbnb on New Year's Eve. It is Benjamin's birthday, and his sister Abigail is throwing him a jazz-age Murder Mystery themed party. As the night plays out, champagne is drunk, hors d'oeuvres consumed, and relationships forged, consolidated or frayed. Someone kisses the wrong person; someone else's heart is broken.
In the morning, all of them wake up--except Benjamin.
As Abigail attempts to wrap her mind around her brother's death, an eminent detective arrives determined to find Benjamin's killer. In this mansion, suddenly complete with a butler, gardener and housekeeper, everyone is a suspect, and nothing is quite as it seems.
Will the culprit be revealed? And how can Abigail, now alone, piece herself back together in the wake of this loss?
Gripping and playful, sharp and profoundly moving, Fair Play plumbs the depths of the human heart while subverting one of our most popular genres.
-
Corruption of Hollis Brown
From acclaimed author K. Ancrum comes a queer romantic thriller in which the lives of Hollis, a boy in search of meaning, and Walt, a spirit with unfinished business, collide when Walt takes possession of Hollis's body...and maybe his heart. For fans of Adam Silvera and Aiden Thomas!
Hollis Brown is stuck. Born to a blue-collar American Dream, Hollis lives in a rotting small town where no one can afford to leave. Hollis's only bright spots are his two best friends, cool girls Annie and Yulia, and the thrill of fighting his classmates.
As if his circumstances couldn't get worse, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger named Walt results in a frightening trap. After unknowingly making a deal at the crossroads, Hollis finds himself losing control of his body and mind, falling victim to possession. Walt, the ghost making a home inside him, has a deep and violent history rooted in the town Hollis grew up in and he has unfinished business to take care of.
As Walt and Hollis begin working together to put Walt's spirit to rest, an unspeakable bond forms between them, and the boys begin falling for one another in unexpected ways. But it's only a matter of time before Hollis's best friends begin to notice that something about Hollis isn't quite...right.
With the threat of a long-overdue exorcism looming before them, will Walt and Hollis be able to protect their love and undo the curse that turned their town from a garden of possibility into a place where dreams go to die?
The Corruption of Hollis Brown has already received four starred reviews!
"Ancrum's tight writing style is perfect for this gritty thriller: simultaneously clipped and lyrical...The novel's rich tenderness for the town, its residents, and their ghosts makes it a must-read. Queer resilience at its finest." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A psychologically thrilling and emotionally intimate tribute to bettering one's own circumstances--and those of one's community--and the selflessness of love." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Walt and Hollis's romance is as intense, stark, and heartfelt as the romances in Ancrum's previous works...their growth as people is both genuine and rewarding to watch." --ALA Booklist (starred review)
"A knack for creating characters who are bigger on the inside is on full display here...as Ancrum's two-boys-one-body setup rests on a delicate balance of voice that never falters...A profoundly beautiful, strange, and introspective love story, at turns soothing and scalding." --School Library Journal (starred review)
"This is a magnificent piece of speculative fiction that will have readers waiting for more from this author." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books