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Knives out, everyone—cheese knives, that is. Pull up a patio chair and imagine Only Murders in the Building if the Golden Girls moved in.

Out in the back garden, three old friends are meeting up for drinks—and revenge. Chrissy (in lavender), Myrna (in earth tones), and Leonie (in hibiscus print) are plotting on behalf of their friend Fern, a fellow retired professor. Many years ago now, Fern inadvertently stepped on the toes of a critics’-darling male novelist, and he and his writer friends made it their mission to bring her down. Her career—and her health—suffered for it, and now she’s taken a turn for the worse. It’s time for some poetic justice.

Margaret Atwood, with her delightfully wicked sense of humor, reminds us that friendship is about showing up for each other—even when nothing goes as planned.

—Kjersti Egerdahl, Editor

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I was drawn into the undeniably beautiful world of Dry Spells from the first page. Set against the vividly drawn backdrop of the modern megacity of Mumbai and 1950s Bombay, the story follows broken-hearted Shyamala Mehta as she escapes LA and moves half a world away to the city her mother left behind a generation ago.

Arriving in the sweltering, drought-stricken city of Mumbai, Shyamala hopes to not only heal her heart but also escape her marriage-obsessed mother’s constant meddling. Living in Mumbai, though, brings her face to face with her own mother’s past—one that Shyamala knows nothing about. As the heat continues to build, so do the family secrets she begins to uncover…Did she ever truly know her mother?

This is a spellbinding debut novel that is a tightly weaved, lyrical love letter to culture, family, and mothers and daughters, and to the foods, fabrics, traditions, and history that shape the Indian experience.

—Victoria Oundjian, Editor

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I have always wondered why we as readers turn time and time again to stories about the Second World War. I think, for me, it’s because this devastating and extreme setting highlights the real essence of what it is to be human. This atmosphere is undoubtedly one of the things that made me fall in love with Rachel Sweasey’s captivating debut, which delivers everything you could want in a dual-timeline novel. The Last Boat Home brings to life war in all its horror—starting on the beaches of Dunkirk, when all hope seemed lost—but against this somber backdrop are stories of love, beauty, and hope that can’t fail to resonate with readers’ lives today.

I immediately fell in love with the heroines, Daisy and Felicity: two women living at very different times (one at the start of the most catastrophic war of living memory, the other at the end of the century, in a period of peace). Daisy is a painter at the local pottery shop, whose husband, Alfie, is missing, presumed dead, after the Dunkirk rescues; half a century later, Felicity loses her husband in a tragic accident. Desperate to escape her hometown with all its memories of Pete, Felicity travels to the South of France, where she is surprised to find a jug from Poole’s famous pottery in a shop window. She is eager to unpack the mystery of how it came to be in the Riviera, not realizing that the answer lies in Daisy’s story and a long-buried secret—a secret that might help Felicity make the hardest decisions of her life.

Add in lashings of mystery and two beautiful love stories, and you have the recipe for a truly epic read that will captivate fans of Fiona Valpy and Lorna Cook. Gripping, moving, and escapist, all while challenging our preconceptions of grief, The Last Boat Home is as perfect for your beach bag as it is for your book club.

—Rachel Faulkner-Willcocks, Editor

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Elle Marr’s storytelling is always chilling and evocative, but with The Alone Time, she explores a unique tragedy between two sisters that comes back to haunt them in ways they never imagined.

Decades ago, Fiona and Violet Seng took a plane ride that claimed the lives of their parents. Crash-landing in the Washington wilderness, the sisters spent months trying to survive. Twenty-five years later, they have no interest in reliving their alone time and are unwilling to speak about the harrowing experience. Fiona uses her art as a soothing balm for her pain, and Violet has battled with her own vices. But now a documentary film crew has renewed public interest in the girls who survived…and whether or not their version of events is true.

The Alone Time is a thriller that not only delivers twist after twist but also explores the bonds of family. As the sisters are forced to relive the secrets and psychological wounds of their pasts, I couldn’t look away. It was a thought-provoking story that stuck with me long after the last page.

—Megha Parekh, Editor

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For bookish people out there, what’s more romantic than falling in love in the stacks of an old college library?

Nisha Sharma, author of Dating Dr. Dil and The Karma Map, has written a romance about a decades-old mystery that brings two people from different worlds together. Jessie is a freshman at Hartceller University’s engineering program who has, like everyone else, heard about the campus legend about two star-crossed lovers who died in a fire in a university building years ago.

Jessie is on a scholarship, and she is especially annoyed ever since she ran into Ravi Kumar, the son of a very wealthy family. Feelings grow after Jessie and Ravi discover old love letters in the library, and they are sucked into a mystery that could lead them to uncover what really happened.

I was completely charmed by this sweet story that asks whether class and money can stand in the way of two people who have fallen in love.

—Carmen Johnson, Editor

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I love to browse summer rental homes, inspecting the decor and personality of the house, with the hope of finding the perfect fit for my next family vacation. Katie Sise’s new novel warns us that there can be a dark side to inviting strangers inside.

In The Vacation Rental, Georgia decides to list her beautiful home so she, her husband, and her preteen daughter can escape to the beach for the month, giving them a chance to reconnect. Her house is booked quickly, but unbeknownst to Georgia, chaos and tragedy will soon ensue.

Katie’s characters are beautiful and complicated, and I loved the way their lives become dangerously intertwined. I was completely drawn into the story…but after reading the book, I may think twice before booking my next summer rental.

—Carmen Johnson, Editor

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“Opposites attract,” “enemies to lovers,” “forced proximity,” and “workplace romance” are only some of the delightful tropes you’ll find in this romp of a romantic comedy! Author R.S. Grey has crafted a truly hilarious story set in an idyllic location—a luxury vacation resort in Turks and Caicos. Think The Hating Game set in a tropical paradise. Yes, please. Sign me up.

The main characters’ opposing personalities—Paige Young is all sunshine, while Cole Clark is a grumpy Clark Kent—make the perfect fodder for hilarious misunderstandings and unrelenting banter. Of course, I know that humor is subjective, but if you: (a) like romance, (b) like to laugh, and (c) don’t mind a little spice with your love story, then I truly believe this book is the one for you.

However, if you’re anything like Cole Clark’s beige-loving, more-robot-than human, order-salad-at-a-steakhouse parents, then I think you might actually want to skip this one. Maybe try something with “finance” in the title. For the rest of us, Their Last Resort might just be our next vacation destination.

—Maria Gomez, Editor

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My favorite type of historical novel is what I like to call “women in places they shouldn’t be”–stories of women doing something groundbreaking. Set in the glamorous and dangerous world of Prohibition-era Los Angeles, against a backdrop of golden-age Hollywood, hidden speakeasys, and ruthless gangsters, The Bootlegger’s Daughter is what would happen if L.A. Confidential met Peaky Blinders…and was told from the women’s side of the story.

In the 1920s, one of the few remaining vineyards is run by Letty Hart, who had to take over the family business after her father abandoned her and her mother. She’s trying to find a way to keep the farm alive and a roof over their heads. Annabel Forman is determined to become the first female detective in the LAPD but is passed over again and again. She knows she has to do something extraordinary to get what she’s already earned. As the bootlegger builds her empire and the pioneering officer builds her case, a murder sets the two on a collision course.

I was rooting for Letty and Annabel even as they made (sometimes less-than-legal) choices and applauding as they succeeded against all odds in worlds where women so rarely find themselves. Inspired in part by the true stories of real women bootleggers (many of whom were—unsurprisingly—better at the crime than the men) and the first female police officer in the US, this page-turning mystery explores the difficult decisions necessary to survive at all—let alone in a man’s world.

—Chantelle Aimée Osman, Editor

Wrong Place Wrong Time: How do you stop a murder when it’s already happened? by Gillian McAllister

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Bonus Short Read

Book Club Fiction

Historical Romance

Psychological Thriller

Coming of Age Romance

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Romance

Historical Fiction