**The last thing he wants to do is return home.** Cole Barrett, former Army Ranger with combat medals and psychological scars to match, has a new mission objective that should be simple: Sell his grandfather’s house and put Deep Haven in his rearview mirror as fast as possible. Deep Haven holds the hurts of physical abuse at the hands of his grandfather—a man now in a memory care facility with dementia who doesn’t even remember the damage he did. Recently divorced, single, and unattached, Cole just wants a new life as a US Marshal where he can forget the past and start new. **Unfortunately, there’s a tenant in the garage apartment who’s refusing to move.** Even worse? It’s his childhood crush, Megan Carter, and her son. 💔
**She’s waited years for her first love to return.** Wedding planner and single mom Megan Carter is no stranger to Deep Haven—to her, it’s the place where she makes dreams come true, at least everyone else’s dreams while her own keep getting postponed. Her big dream is to purchase the Black Spruce Bed & Breakfast to turn it into a premier event venue and, **if she can stay booked for enough weddings over winter, she’ll have enough money to buy the inn,** move out of Grandpa Barrett’s garage apartment, and finally give her nine-year-old son Josh the life he deserves—stability, security, a real home. 💍
Between Cole needing to sell the house that Megan’s desperately trying to buy, confronting the grandfather whose abuse shaped his childhood, protecting his heart from the woman who never stopped loving him, and Megan fighting to save her business and secure her son’s future while facing the man she thought she’d lost forever, they discover that **some first loves never die—they just wait for you to be brave enough to come home.** The question isn’t whether they still feel it. The question is whether love is strong enough to heal old wounds and build something new. 🏠
What makes this heartwarming: Last thing Cole Barrett wants is returning home as former Army Ranger with new mission selling grandfather’s house putting Deep Haven in rearview mirror, Deep Haven holding hurts of physical abuse from grandfather now in memory care with dementia, tenant in garage apartment refusing to move being childhood crush Megan Carter and her son, wedding planner single mom waiting years for first love to return, and staying booked enough weddings over winter to have money buying inn and giving son life he deserves.
**The media has a nickname for Marnie Baranuik, though she’d rather they didn’t;** they call her the Great White Shark—a rare dual-talented forensic psychic who bites hard and doesn’t let go. Twice-Touched by the Blue Sense, which gives her the ability to feel the emotions of others like they’re her own and read impressions left behind on objects (the residual psychic fingerprints of trauma, violence, and death), Marnie also has a doctorate in preternatural biology and a working knowledge of the dark arts that most academics only theorize about. **She is considered without peer in the psychic community.** Then her first big FBI case ended with a bullet in one shoulder and a chip on the other, a queasy heart, and a serial killer in the wind who’s still out there somewhere. 🦈
When the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit tracks her down at a remote mountain lodge where she’s been licking her wounds and contemplating early retirement, **her retirement is promptly besieged by a stab-happy starlet** who’s more knife than actress, a rampaging ghoul that’s eating its way through the local population with disturbing efficiency, and **a vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers** who seems determined to either seduce her or get her killed (possibly both). Marnie figures the only real mystery is which one will kill her first—the starlet, the ghoul, or the insufferable cowboy whose smirk makes her want to punch something. 🧛
**Too mean to die young, backed up by friends in cold places, and running with a mouth as demure as a cannon’s blast,** Marnie Baranuik is about to discover that there’s no such thing as quitting time when you’re Touched. Between investigating preternatural crimes the FBI can’t solve, dealing with psychic impressions that threaten to overwhelm her, surviving encounters with creatures that shouldn’t exist, and resisting the vampire hunter who’s getting under her skin in ways that have nothing to do with hatred, Marnie learns that retirement was never really an option. Some people are born to fight monsters. She just wishes the monsters would stop fighting back. 💀
What makes this badass: Media nicknaming Marnie Baranuik the Great White Shark as rare dual-talented forensic psychic, Twice-Touched by Blue Sense feeling others’ emotions and reading object impressions, doctorate in preternatural biology considered without peer in psychic community, first big FBI case ending with bullet in shoulder and serial killer in wind, retirement besieged by stab-happy starlet and rampaging ghoul and vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers, and too mean to die young with mouth as demure as cannon’s blast discovering no quitting time when Touched.
**Magic wasn’t supposed to be this difficult…or this dangerous.** The last spell Tessa Daniels cast turned a woman’s hair green (it was supposed to be auburn, but close counts in horseshoes, not hair color). The one before that? Well, she doesn’t talk about that one, and neither does the town—there’s an unspoken agreement that some magical disasters are better left unmentioned. Debt-ridden and labeled an outcast by the magical community that once respected her family name, **Tessa doesn’t think things can get worse until a young woman shows up at her magic shop desperate to attend the prince’s ball.** 👑
But when **her latest attempt at magic leads to the woman’s murder at the stroke of midnight,** she finds herself in the sights of a handsome lead detective who thinks she’s the main suspect in what’s being called the Cinderella Killing. Determined to prove him wrong and show the kingdom she’s more than her clumsy spells and her family’s tarnished reputation, **Tessa forces her way onto his case** despite his objections, his threats to arrest her for obstruction, and his infuriating habit of being right about almost everything. 🔍
And as **their unlikely partnership shifts from a battle of wills into an attraction neither can resist,** a killer lurks in the shadows, waiting to claim her as the next victim. Between investigating magical murders, dodging a detective who’s equal parts suspicious and seductive, mastering spells that refuse to cooperate, and discovering that someone’s targeting her specifically, Tessa learns that some fairy tales end at midnight—and some nightmares begin there. The question isn’t whether she can solve the murder. The question is whether she’ll survive long enough to prove her innocence. 💀
What makes this enchanting: Magic not supposed to be this difficult or dangerous with last spell turning woman’s hair green, debt-ridden and labeled outcast Tessa not thinking things can get worse until young woman desperate to attend prince’s ball, latest magic attempt leading to woman’s murder at stroke of midnight, finding herself in handsome lead detective’s sights thinking she’s main suspect, forcing way onto his case, and unlikely partnership shifting from battle of wills into attraction neither can resist with killer lurking.
The Pot Thief Mysteries Volume One: The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras, The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy, and The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein
**A dealer in ancient Native American pottery, Hubert Schuze has spent years searching the public lands of New Mexico for artwork that would otherwise remain buried.** According to the US government, he’s a thief who’s looting archaeological sites and destroying irreplaceable cultural heritage. But Hubie knows the real crime would be to allow age-old traditions to die, to let thousand-year-old masterpieces crumble into dust while bureaucrats argue about permits. He honors prehistoric craftspeople by resurrecting their handiwork, and nothing—not even foul play—will stop him in these three installments of the Lefty Award–winning mystery series. 🏺
**The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras:** Hubie accepts a $25,000 offer to lift a rare pot from a local museum—easy money for a man with his skills, or so he thinks. But he changes his mind when he discovers how tightly the exhibit is being guarded with laser grids, motion sensors, and guards who actually stay awake. When the pot goes missing anyway (and Hubie didn’t take it), he’s sent on the hunt for the real thief and on the run from a killer who thinks Hubie knows too much. Between proving his innocence, finding the actual thief, and staying alive, Hubie discovers that $25,000 doesn’t buy much when you’re dead. 💰
**The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy:** Hubie goes on a mission to recover stolen relics from a high-rise apartment building using a plan so perfect it can’t fail. Unfortunately, **his perfect plan falls apart when he’s arrested for murder.** That’s what happens when you get caught with blood on your hands and a dead body in the room—even the best alibi sounds suspicious under those circumstances. Now, Hubie must stay one step ahead of the law as he pursues a beautiful mystery woman who might be the key to clearing his name or the person who framed him. Three complete novels proving that sometimes the most valuable treasures are the ones that get you killed. 🔍
What makes this clever: Dealer Hubert Schuze searching New Mexico public lands for ancient Native American pottery that would otherwise remain buried, government calling him thief but he honors prehistoric craftspeople by resurrecting handiwork, accepting $25,000 to lift rare pot from museum changing mind when discovering tight guarding, pot missing anyway sending him hunting real thief and running from killer, and perfect plan falling apart when arrested for murder with blood on hands and dead body in room.
Called **”Rich, wise, funny, and beautifully written” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Anne Lamott,** *Stay: A Story of Family, Love, and Other Traumas* is a riveting debut that captures the joyous and painful complexity of family love and loyalty—the way we can be utterly devoted to people who also drive us absolutely insane. It’s about the cost of family secrets that everyone knows but nobody discusses, and the quest to help the people we love most without losing our own way or sacrificing our own sanity. **It’s also a rare window into two of the biggest epidemics gripping society today: mental illness and chronic illness** and the ways in which they affect relationships, personal identity, and the blueprint of our lives. 💙
**Told through the eyes of the author as both a young sibling and a mid-life parent,** Julie Fingersh seamlessly weaves together present and past, unlocking the puzzle of her early adulthood with her struggling brother from the vantage point of a mid-life parent on the verge of an empty nest and her next chapter. Just as she’s preparing to let go and move forward, **her college-bound daughter’s life suddenly careens off track** in ways that echo the past with terrifying precision. The patterns repeat. The fears resurface. And Julie must decide whether helping means holding on or letting go. 🌱
**Sparkling with warmth, wit, and lyrical prose,** Fingersh provides insight and sustenance for everyone wrestling with mid-life’s ghosts, parenting adult children who need help but resist it, and the twin pillagers of fear and the inner critic that whisper you’re not doing enough (or you’re doing too much, or you’re doing it all wrong). Above all, *Stay* is for readers who want to think, feel, laugh, cry, and perhaps see their own life’s trajectory and path forward with new eyes—understanding that sometimes staying means knowing when to let go. ✨
What makes this powerful: Anne Lamott calling it rich wise funny and beautifully written, riveting debut capturing joyous and painful family love complexity and cost of secrets, rare window into mental illness and chronic illness epidemics affecting relationships and identity, told as both young sibling and mid-life parent weaving present and past together, and college-bound daughter’s life careening off track as empty nest approaches.
**Amy Foster returns to Virginia when her father dies** and finds herself back in the small town she’d left behind, surrounded by memories she thought she’d buried and people she thought she’d never see again. She’s barely begun processing her grief when **she is soon plunged into the past—the body of a young woman missing for ten years is found,** discovered in the woods where Amy used to walk, in the place where everything changed that summer. The body brings back everything: the rumors, the accusations, the secrets everyone agreed never to speak about again. 💔
**And the man she once loved is suspected in her death.** The boy who promised her forever, who broke her heart, who might have killed a girl and gotten away with it for a decade. Amy doesn’t want to believe he’s capable of murder—but she also knows that people are capable of anything when pushed far enough, and that summer pushed everyone to their limits. Between confronting the past she fled, investigating a decade-old murder, facing the man whose innocence she wants to believe in but can’t quite trust, and discovering that small towns never forget and never forgive, Amy learns that some summers cast shadows that last forever. 🌲
The truth about what happened ten years ago is buried as deep as that body was, and digging it up might destroy everyone who survived that summer—including Amy herself. Between old lovers, older secrets, and a murder that someone desperately wants to stay cold, Amy must decide if finding the truth is worth losing everything she rebuilt when she ran away. Sometimes coming home means confronting the one question you’ve spent ten years avoiding: what really happened that summer? 🔍
What makes this haunting: Amy Foster returning to Virginia when father dies, soon plunged into past when body of young woman missing ten years is found, man she once loved suspected in her death, and confronting decade-old murder discovering small towns never forget and some summers cast shadows lasting forever.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 3Page 3