Check out these highly anticipated new releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month!
FICTION
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. In Madrid, under the reigns of the king and the Catholic Church, during the time of the Inquisition, lives a scullion maid named Luzia who is hiding her ability to create little miracles such as restoring burned bread to new and stitching torn dresses. Luzia is hiding not only her abilities but also her Jewish lineage, both of which could get her executed for heresy. When Luzia's mistress discovers the scullion maid's abilities, she uses them to gain social power, only to have Luzia discovered by the wealthy Víctor de Paredes. Víctor is looking for someone to submit into a tournament for the king's holy champion . . .Víctor provides Luzia with a mentor—his immortal familiar, Guillén Santángel—to improve her chances of winning the tournament . . .Soon, Santángel's feelings for Luzia complicate things. . .Bardugo masterfully weaves magical realism with historical fiction and romance, which makes this book impossible to put down. Copyright 2024 Library Journal.
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Real Americans begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company, meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not: easygoing and effortlessly attractive, a native East Coaster and, most notably, heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire. Lily couldn't be more different: flat-broke, raised in Tampa, the only child of scientists who fled Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite all this, Lily and Matthew fall in love. In 2021, fifteen-year-old Nick Chen has never felt like he belonged on the isolated Washington island where he lives with his single mother, Lily. He can't shake the sense she's hiding something. When Nick sets out to find his biological father, the journey threatens to raise more questions than answers. In immersive, moving prose, Rachel Khong weaves a profound tale of class and striving, race and visibility, and family and inheritance—a story of trust, forgiveness, and finally coming home. From the publisher.
Everyone believes Adam to be something he’s not. Sometimes that’s because he’s told them a story. Sometimes he’s told himself one. But when Adam joins an Alaskan fishing crew that’s promising quick money, the dangerous work and harsh lifestyle strip away all fabrications and force a dark-hearted exploration of who he really is. On the unforgiving Bering Sea, Adam finds the adventure and authenticity of a fisherman’s life revelatory. . .But when a strike threatens the entire season and violence stalks the waves, Adam is thrust into a struggle for survival at the edge of the world, where evolutionary and social forces collide for outcomes beyond anyone’s control. In his riveting debut novel, Matt Riordan pairs personal experiences with a master storyteller’s eye in a piercing examination of the quest for identity in the face of tempests within and without. From the publisher.
NONFICTION
Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love by Kerry
Nichols & Randi Kramer. Puppy Brain will show you how to create a harmonious,
fulfilling relationship with your pet, from Kerry Nichols, founder of
Nicholberry Goldens… With guidance about
everything from crate training to spaying and neutering, Puppy
Brain distills the latest insights and breakthroughs from canine
research into practical, actionable, evidence-based guidance… With irresistible photos, clear guidance, and engaging
humor, Puppy Brain reveals the best training practices
based on how your dog’s mind works. As her hundreds of thousands of followers
can attest, Kerry’s guidance will help you raise dogs who are confident,
loving, and happy. The perfect gift for dog lovers and psychology enthusiasts
alike, Puppy Brain is the definitive resource for anyone
looking to raise their puppy with respect and love.
Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in theCosmos by Lisa Kaltenegger. Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute to Search
for Life in the Cosmos at Cornell University, debuts with a stellar exploration
of how she and other astronomers are searching for extraterrestrial life…
Kaltenegger notes, recounting how she’s made lava strips and grown
microorganisms in her lab so she can study their light signatures and be able
to recognize them if scientists spot similar ones in space. Highlighting
discoveries that changed astronomers’ understanding of alien life, Kaltenegger
points out that in 2020 a space telescope found a gas giant orbiting a dead
star, raising the possibility that planets, and any life-forms they contain,
may be able to “survive the demise of their stars.” The breezy prose makes the
sophisticated science accessible, and armchair astronomers will be entranced by
the descriptions of remarkable exoplanets, including one “so hot that rocks
melt, evaporate, then rain down again.” Readers will be riveted. Copyright 2024
Publishers Weekly.
The Wives by Simone Gorrindo. Years into their relationship, journalist Gorrindo's
boyfriend Andrew vocalizes a desire to join the U.S. Army. They know that his
enlistment might destabilize their relationship, but they reach an agreement,
marry, and move from New York City to Columbus, GA, where Gorrindo first
realizes the realities of being a military spouse… A fearless, engaging, and
important memoir about how one person's decision to serve in the military
affects their entire family. Readers will learn the true meaning of military
service through the wider lens of its impact on families and communities.
Copyright 2024 Library Journal.
