Featured Adult Reads

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Before I Forget

"A tender, funny portrait of love in its myriad forms." —Mikki Brammer, bestselling author of The Collected Regrets of Clover

A funny, heartfelt, late coming-of-age story that examines the role of memory in holding us back—and in moving us forward—for fans of The Collected Regrets of Clover and Maame.

Call it inertia. Call it a quarter-life crisis. Whatever you call it, Cricket Campbell is stuck. Despite working at a zeitgeisty wellness company, the 26-year-old feels anything but well. Still adrift after a tragedy that upended her world a decade ago, she has entered early adulthood under the weight of a new burden: her father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

When Cricket’s older sister Nina announces it is time to move Arthur from his beloved Adirondack lake house into a memory-care facility, Cricket has a better idea. In returning home to become her father’s caretaker, she hopes to repair their strained relationship and shake herself out of her perma-funk. But even deeply familiar places can hold surprises.

As Cricket settles back into the family house at Catwood Pond—a place she once loved, but hasn’t visited since she was a teenager—she discovers that her father possesses a rare gift: as he loses his grasp of the past, he is increasingly able to predict the future. Before long, Arthur cements his reputation as an unlikely oracle, but for Cricket, believing in her father’s prophecies might also mean facing the most painful parts of her history. As she begins to remember who she once was, she uncovers a vital truth: the path forward often starts by going back.

With laugh-out-loud humor and profound grace, Before I Forget explores the nuances of family, the complexities of memory, and how sometimes, the people we know the best are the ones who surprise us the most.

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Everybody Wants to Rule the World

Elmore Leonard meets Robert Ludlum in a rollicking comedic thriller set in 1985 from acclaimed author Ace Atkins, in which a suburban teen suspects his mom's new boyfriend is the ultimate bad guy--a KGB agent.

It's 1985, what will soon become known as "The Year of the Spy," and fourteen-year-old Peter Bennett is convinced his mom's new boyfriend is a Russian agent. "Gary" isn't in the phone book, has an unidentifiable European accent, and keeps a gun in the glove box of his convertible Porsche. Peter thinks Gary only wants to get close to his mom because she works at Scientific Atlanta, a lab with big government contracts. But who is going to believe him? He's just a kid into BMX and MTV.

But after another woman who works at the lab is killed, Peter recruits an unlikely pair of allies--a has-been pulp writer and muckraker named Dennis Hotchner and his drag performer buddy and heavy, Jackie Demure. Both soon become the target of an unhinged Russian hitman (Is it Gary? Maybe!) with a serious Phil Collins obsession.

Meanwhile, Sylvia Weaver, a young, Black FBI agent, investigates Scientific Atlanta in the wake of the employee's murder and discovers a nest of Russian spies in the Southern "city too busy to hate." Little does she know her investigation is being thwarted by a seriously compromised colleague in Washington, D.C., who is in league with a lovesick, hypochondriac KGB defector who is playing both sides of the Cold War to his benefit.

As Ronald Reagan and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev prepare for a historic nuclear summit in Geneva, what happens in Atlanta might change the course of the Cold War, the twentieth century, and Peter Bennett's freshman year of high school.

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Best Offer Wins

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick * A Good Housekeeping Book Club Pick * An ELLE Best Mystery/Thriller of 2025 * A BookRiot Best Mystery/Thriller of 2025

“It starts out feeling pretty light and fun, but I promise you, you have no idea where this story is going.” -Taylor Jenkins Reid, recommended for her Must-Read Book of 2025 in TIME Magazine

An insanely competitive housing market. A desperate buyer on the edge. In Marisa Kashino’s darkly humorous debut novel, Best Offer Wins, the white picket fence becomes the ultimate symbol of success—and obsession. How far would you go for the house of your dreams? 

Eighteen months and 11 lost bidding wars into house-hunting in the overheated Washington, DC suburbs, 37-year-old publicist Margo Miyake gets a tip about the perfect house, in the perfect neighborhood, slated to come up for sale in one month. Desperate to escape the cramped apartment she shares with her husband Ian — and in turn, get their marriage, plan to have a baby, and whole life back on track — Margo becomes obsessed with buying the house before it’s publicly listed and the masses descend (with unbeatable, all-cash offers in hand).

A little stalking? Harmless. A bit of trespassing? Necessary. As Margo infiltrates the homeowners’ lives, her tactics grow increasingly unhinged—but just when she thinks she’s won them over, she hits a snag in her plan. Undeterred, Margo will prove again and again that there’s no boundary she won’t cross to seize the dream life she’s been chasing. The most unsettling part? You’ll root for her, even as you gasp in disbelief.

Dark, biting, and laugh-out-loud funny, Best Offer Wins is a propulsive debut and a razor-sharp exploration of class, ambition, and the modern housing crisis.

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The Seven Daughters of Dupree

From the two-time Emmy Award–winning producer and host of the Black and Published podcast comes a sweeping multi-generational epic following seven generations of Dupree women as they navigate love, loss, and the unyielding ties of family in the tradition of Homegoing and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.

It’s 1995, and fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother Gladys remains silent about the family’s past, including why she left Land’s End, Alabama, in 1953. As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers a legacy of family secrets, where every generation of Dupree women has posed more questions than answers.

From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby’s fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia’s future forever, the Dupree women carry the weight of their heritage. Bound by a mysterious malediction that means they will only give birth to daughters, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience, and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.

The Seven Daughters of Dupree masterfully weaves together themes of generational trauma, Black women’s resilience, and unbreakable familial bonds. Echoing the literary power of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, Nikesha Elise Williams delivers a feminist literary fiction that explores the ripple effects of actions, secrets, and love through seven generations of Black women.

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The Tower and the Ruin

"In The Tower and the Ruin, Michael Drout explains what sets Tolkien's work apart from all other modern literature. Drout's argument starts with the observation that reading Tolkien's books, particularly The Lord of the Rings, feels more like having an experience than just reading another book. Along with more easily described characteristics-the richness and complexity of the world of Middle-earth, the aesthetic beauty of Tolkien's invented languages, the intricacy of the narrative, and the sophistication of the moral vision-this experiential quality is the foundation of his books' enduring popularity and cultural influence. It is also what makes them more personally significant to many readers than any other secular texts. Taking us into Tolkien's life and his many books-from The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion to lesser-known works such as The Fall of Gondolin and The Book of Lost Tales-Drout shows how Tolkien, over a period of decades, crafted a fully coherent world. But the greater achievement, Drout argues, was how he drew from Beowulf, the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, and other foundational myths to create of a set of stories that felt, to readers, as though they were much, much older than they actually were; that read as compilations of already existing material; and that appeared to be the product of many different authors. Throughout, Drout demonstrates how Tolkien has shaped his own life, helping him during periods of intense sorrow. As he writes, "The effects of the Ring on Frodo and Gollum are the most profound metaphorical exploration of addiction that has ever been written, capturing the experience so perfectly that when my father finally told me about his struggles with alcoholism, he said 'I could not take off the Ring,' and I understood." Sweeping and hugely perceptive, The Tower and the Ruin defines Tolkien anew"-- Provided by publisher

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A Box Full of Darkness

“From the book’s chillingly creepy setting, which previously appeared in The Sun Down Motel (2020), to a nerve-jangling plot that effectively borrows from a mix of genres to the writing itself, which shimmers with a dazzlingly sharp sense of wit, everything about St. James’ latest is done to perfection.”-Booklist (starred review)

Simone St. James, the New York Times bestselling author of The Sun Down Motel, returns with her scariest, most shocking novel yet in this pulse-pounding story about siblings who return to the house they fled 18 years before, called back by the ghost of their long-missing brother and his haunting request: Come home.

Strange things happen in Fell, New York. A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For the Esmie siblings—Violet, Vail, and Dodie—the final straw was the shocking disappearance of their little brother. It started as a normal game of hide-and-seek. The three closed their eyes and counted to ten while Ben went to hide. But this time, they never found their brother—he was gone and the ongoing search efforts turned up no clues.

As their parents grew increasingly distant, Violet, Vail, and Dodie were each haunted by visions and frightening events that made them leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years.

And now after two decades running from their past, it’s time for a homecoming. Because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared. If the ghosts of Fell don’t get to them first.

A Box Full of Darkness is another propulsive thriller from the author of The Broken Girls and The Book of Cold Cases, a surprising horror story from a writer who is “particularly gifted at doling out twists” (The New York Times).

Featured Teen Reads

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Elatsoe

One of TIME Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy Novels of All Time -- Now in Paperback! 

A Texas teen comes face-to-face with a cousin's ghost and vows to unmask the murderer.

Elatsoe--Ellie for short--lives in an alternate contemporary America shaped by the ancestral magics and knowledge of its Indigenous and immigrant groups. She can raise the spirits of dead animals--most importantly, her ghost dog Kirby. When her beloved cousin dies, all signs point to a car crash, but his ghost tells her otherwise: He was murdered.

Who killed him and how did he die? With the help of her family, her best friend Jay, and the memory great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother, Elatsoe, must track down the killer and unravel the mystery of this creepy town and its dark past. But will the nefarious townsfolk and a mysterious Doctor stop her before she gets started?

The breathtaking debut novel from Darcie Little Badger features an asexual, Apache teen protagonist--and combines mystery, horror, noir, ancestral knowledge, haunting illustrations, and fantasy elements, in one of the most-talked-about books in years.

W I N N E R

Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel 

Nebula Award Finalist

Lodestar Award Finalist

Ignyte Award Finalist

American Indian Youth Literature Award Finalist

P R A I S E

"Groundbreaking." --TIME

"Deeply enjoyable from start to finish."--NPR

"Utterly magical." --SyFyWire

"Atmospheric and lyrical...a gorgeous work of art."--BuzzFeed

"One of the best YA debuts of 2020. Read it."--Marieke Nijkamp

★ "A fresh voice and perspective."--Booklist (starred)

★ "A unique and powerful Native American voice."-BookPage (starred)

★ "A brilliant, engaging debut."--Kirkus (starred)

★ "A fast-paced murder mystery."--Publishers Weekly (starred)

★ "A Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set." --Shelf-Awareness (starred)


BEST OF THE YEAR

NPR * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Chicago Public Library * Publishers Weekly * Kirkus * Shelf Awareness * Reactor * Booklist

Featured Children's Reads

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Dog Man: Big Jim Believes: a Graphic Novel (Dog Man #14): from the Creator of Captain Underpants

Power up with Dog Man: Big Jim Believes from the global #1 bestselling author and award-winning artist Dav Pilkey. Join the journey as our heroes discover the influence of belief and find truth from within. With threads of self-awareness, confidence, and integrity, Dav Pilkey masterfully crafts a humorous and heartfelt adventure, weaving together the importance of truth, goodness, and believing in yourself.

 

The celebration comes to a halt for our heroes in Dog Man: Big Jim Believes when the mischievous Space Cuties From Space return. Our caped crusaders -- Dog Man (aka Scarlet Shedder), Commander Cupcake, and Sprinkles -- along with Mecha Molly discover that the city has changed, and nothing is how it should be. Can Big Jim's positivity and innocence help our heroes? Will Dog Man, Big Jim, Grampa, and Molly have the courage to trust each other and save the day? How does the past help shape the future? And who is the chosen one?

Readers will want to hold onto their hero capes as they soar into a new thrilling Dog Man story. The series follows the hilarious adventures of Dog Man, a lovable canine superhero and his friends. Each exciting graphic novel features inspiring characters, animated Flip-O-Ramas, and more!

For additional awesome, action-packed, inspiring escapades filled with creativity and imagination, read Dav Pilkey's Cat Kid Comic Club series, Super Diaper Baby graphic novels (now in full color), Captain Underpants series, and Dragon series. Also be sure to check out the two acclaimed major motion pictures: Dog Man and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

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Firefox Moon

From Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series and New York Times bestseller Juniper's Christmas!

Acclaimed, mega-bestselling Eoin Colfer, named "a master storyteller" by School Library Journal, returns to the world of Juniper Lane for a lively new adventure! This time, Juniper takes off on a summertime quest in a story sure to delight young readers all year round.

Juniper and her loyal flying reindeer Skära are the first ever Guardians of Cedar Wood. With Juniper’s mentor Niko back in the North Pole, they’re entrusted with protecting the magical forest hidden in the middle of London because there’s a teeny-tiny chance that he left behind a few sparks of magic... but definitely not enough to attract any dangerous magical creatures. Probably.

It turns out Niko actually left behind a lot of magic, transforming the entire forest into a haven for powerful creatures just as he's stranded far from London. A witch wielding a flaming dagger, a cursed queen desperate for a cure, and a pack of wolves out for revenge are all in pursuit of a legendary fox with the power to grant a wish under the midsummer Blood Moon—and the very fate of the Cedar Wood, and possibly all of Britain, hangs in the balance. Protecting the forest from these calamitous newcomers is a lot of work for a thirteen-year-old and her trusty reindeer, but Juniper is determined to save the world.

And one more thing—this adventure features a giant ground sloth, which is about the size of a Toyota Prius, but with more claws.