Simon&Schuster

I have been in awe of Jennifer Vanderbes since the publication years ago of one of my favorite novels ever: Easter Island. So when I saw that she had another novel coming out, I greeted it with bated breath and The Secret of Raven Point did not disappoint. Telling the story of Juliet, a young woman growing up during World War II, Vanderbes hands us a novel that is part coming-of-age tale, part mystery, and part wartime narrative. When Juliet’s older brother goes missing in action as an American soldier battling the German army overseas, Juliet lies about her age, then trains and enlists as a nurse to get as close as she can to the point her brother was last seen. Stationed in a field hospital in Italy, Juliet is thrown into the chaos of wartime life. She quickly finds herself surrounded by a makeshift family of fellow nurses, patients, soldiers, and doctors whose lives and small actions create intimacy and meaning under such perilous conditions. Juliet is caught between allowing her new life to shape and form her, and her own loyalty toward that of her missing brother, whose whereabouts remain veiled. This is a novel about holding faith beyond reason, about transgression and transformation, and about how when seeking truth about another, it is impossible to not also find truth about yourself. A poignant, lasting story, for anyone who is a fan of Call the Midwife; Vanderbes’ new novel shows off her skills in their highest form.

Reading Delijani's novel is like peeping into the living rooms of families torn apart by revolution and political strife. Three generations try to hold their lives together, to find and sustain love, to support their families, to heal from unspeakable wounds, and to live with unthinkable absences. It is a deeply moving story of life, death, persecution, and survival.

Memoirs can do two things—they can tell an adventure story so captivating, that you have to rip through the pages to see how it will all turn out, or they can take a quiet ordinary life and turn it to be so revealing that there are life lessons that ring as raw and true—Joe Blair’s memoir is one of the few that manages to do both. Blair thought he was going to be traveler—that he would have avant-garde adventures on his motorcycle and Jack Kerouac his way through the country with a notebook and pen. Instead 15 years later, living in small-town Iowa, Joe is an air-conditioning repairman, struggling to stay faithful in his marriage, and feeling beaten by the autism diagnosis of his young son. When the Iowa River floods a state disaster is declared, and heroic measures are suddenly needed—in rendering language and with stunning insight, Joe’s observes the flooding of the river, detailing how his ordinary life has suddenly turned extraordinary, only to recognize it’s been that way all along.

Adrian McKinty writes gripping and intelligent page-turners that take place all over the world. The protagonist of Hidden River is a former drug detective from Ireland who is addicted to heroin and on the run from his past. He travels to Denver, Colorado to crack the unsolved murder of a childhood sweetheart, and makes more than one dangerous enemy. I just loved this one.

This book is dark, beautiful and everything you could ever want from a fairy tale. Not like the cutesy, lovey-dovey fairy tales, but the ones with teeth, the ones that make you a better, braver person after. This is one of my all-time favorites, and perfect for anyone who remembers how the process of growing up can be both terrifying and magical at the same time.

Set at an elite all-male boarding school during WWII, John Knowle's tightly-written masterpiece examines what happens when friendship and love border too closely with envy and destruction. This book is great for anyone who loves coming-of-age tales, boarding school antics, and lots and lots of queer subtext to decipher.

Chuck Klosterman's fiction is by no means as impressive as his nonfiction, but Visible Man works because it takes the best elements of his essays -- the insightful pop culture references, the impossible ethical dilemmas, and the serious, almost scientific approach to inane subjects -- and inserts them into a compelling plotline.

I adored this wonderfully quirky love story. Professor Don Tillman’s brain works just a little bit differently (think Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory) and his systematic, rational procedure for finding a wife is totally thrown off-kilter by the entrance of Rosie and his own unpredictable and illogical emotional responses. Simsion combines a good dose of humor with a tender and authentic romance. It’s a genuine feel-good book.

This novel stunned me. At its end, I realized I would be forever haunted—truly, there is no better word to describe the vibration left behind after reading this book. Fusing fact and fiction, the book is based on a true crime that took place in 1931. It is not a sensationalist recounting; instead it delves into the inner lives and spirits of the crime victims and those close to them. There are photographs (lifted from real archives) of the characters and the settings that surrounded them, interspersed within the chapters that give the lost voice and breath. While this could be macabre in another writer’s hand, in Phillips’, the writing is filled with life.

It’s been 36 years since Stephen King published The Shining, and now we finally get to see what happened to little psychic Danny Torrance. Danny has since grown up and moved to New England to escape what happened between his father and the Overlook Hotel... and we all know that when King writes in New England, things get otherworldly. Suffice to say that a prescient cat, immortal predators, and the ongoing battle of good vs. evil are involved.