Mace Svensson is always fully in control of his company, his family, and his life down to the smallest detail. Even his diet is perfectly regulated with calculated macros and meal prep—that includes absolutely no candy, no exceptions, no weaknesses. Control defines him, protects him, keeps chaos at bay. Except when his new assistant Josie sprays chocolate sauce all over him during a catering disaster and passes out drunk in his car after the office party, it marks the point where his control over everything starts to unravel spectacularly. 🍫

Josie is a walking disaster and some sort of sugar addict who seems physically incapable of following simple instructions or maintaining professional boundaries. And she’s determined to turn him into a fiend for her candy, constantly offering him treats from the jar on her desk despite his repeated refusals. She doesn’t understand that some people don’t need sweetness in their lives—they need structure, discipline, predictability. 💼

Josie believes routines are the enemy of life and lives to be spontaneous, flying by the seat of her pants in ways that make Mace’s eye twitch. Her new billionaire boss looks like he desperately needs something sweet in his life beyond seaweed and quinoa. She graciously offered to let him stick his hand in her candy jar—it has salt water taffy and gummy worms!—and she can’t believe he thought that was inappropriate and filed an HR complaint. 🍬

She feels sorry for the guy. His little brothers are miserable, his PowerPoints are uninspired, and his life is seriously lacking in joy. And candy. Though if she’s being honest, Josie could use a little more discipline herself. Her YOLO philosophy already sent her life into a tailspin that cost her the entirety of her life savings. She’s living in a dilapidated tiny house that’s actively trying to kill her and regularly eating chocolate chips and boxed wine for dinner like a college freshman. 🏠

In an effort to redeem herself and prove she’s not a clumsy, car-destroying, electronics-killing, accident-prone walking disaster, Josie sets out to show Mace she’s capable of professionalism. That lasted all of five minutes before she set his seaweed and quinoa lunch on fire—yeah, she didn’t know that was a thing either. She can tell she’s a bad influence when she sees him lick his lips when they’re alone. She just has to convince him to take one little bite of what she’s offering. Because once he has a taste of sweetness, he’s going to want to stick his whole face in her candy jar. 💕

What makes this sweet: Alina Jacobs’s romantic comedy follows control-obsessed billionaire Mace Svensson whose perfectly regulated life unravels when disaster-prone assistant Josie sprays chocolate sauce on him and passes out drunk in his car—she’s determined to introduce sweetness into his joyless existence despite living in a tiny house eating chocolate chips for dinner, setting his quinoa lunch on fire while proving she’s a bad influence he can’t resist.

Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent older cousin Ambrose on a grand Cornwall estate that becomes the center of Philip’s world. Resolutely single and content with bachelorhood, Ambrose delights in Philip as his heir, and Philip grows to love Ambrose’s estate as much as he does the man himself. The two construct a cozy, predictable world of masculine companionship, country pursuits, and unspoken affection that seems destined to continue unchanged for decades. 🏰

But their carefully constructed world is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence for his health. There he falls in love and marries a mysterious distant cousin named Rachel—a woman Philip has never met, knows nothing about, and immediately resents for stealing Ambrose’s attention and affection. And there, under circumstances that grow increasingly disturbing with each letter he sends home, Ambrose dies suddenly. His final letters hint at paranoia, illness, and fear of the woman he married. 💔

Jealous of Ambrose’s marriage that excluded him, racked by suspicion at the cryptic hints in Ambrose’s increasingly frantic letters, and grief-stricken by his death under mysterious circumstances, Philip prepares to meet his cousin’s widow Rachel with hatred burning in his heart. He’s convinced she somehow caused Ambrose’s death, perhaps through poison or manipulation, and he’s determined to make her pay for destroying the only family he’s ever known. 🌹

But when Rachel finally arrives at the estate, she seems to be a completely different woman from the one described in Ambrose’s paranoid letters. Beautiful, sophisticated, charming, and magnetic in ways that catch Philip completely off guard, he cannot help but feel drawn to Rachel despite his suspicions. She captivates him in ways he never imagined possible, making him question everything he believed about her guilt. And yet, troubling questions still linger like poison in wine: might she have had a direct hand in Ambrose’s death? And how, exactly, did Ambrose die when the circumstances remain so unclear? As Philip pursues the answers to these questions with increasing obsession, he realizes that his own fate could hang in the balance—that he might be falling under the same spell that destroyed Ambrose, repeating history with devastating consequences. ⚠️

What makes this haunting: Daphne du Maurier’s psychological thriller follows orphaned Philip Ashley raised by benevolent cousin Ambrose on a Cornwall estate until Ambrose travels to Florence, marries mysterious cousin Rachel, and dies suddenly sending paranoid letters—Philip prepares to meet Rachel with hatred until her beauty and magnetism captivate him, forcing him to question whether she murdered Ambrose or if he’s falling under the same deadly spell.

New York Times bestselling author Elmore Leonard delivers his trademark blend of action, sex, violence, humor, and hard-boiled suspense in this thrilling crime classic that captures 1980s South Beach before it became trendy. Joe LaBrava is an ex–Secret Service agent who protected presidents and learned to read danger in crowds, but those skills don’t prepare him for the twisted situation he stumbles into when he trades government work for photography in Miami. 📸

LaBrava gets mixed up in a South Miami Beach scam involving a colorful cast of characters that could only exist in Leonard’s Florida—a redneck former cop who thinks he’s smarter than he actually is, a Cuban hit man who moonlights as a go-go dancer and somehow makes both professions work, and a one-time movie queen whose world exists somewhere between make-believe and deadly dangerous reality. She’s the kind of woman who still sees herself in black-and-white film noir even as the world around her has moved on in full color. 🎬

The scam itself is pure Leonard: convoluted enough to keep everyone guessing but grounded in the kind of criminal opportunism that thrives in places where desperate people intersect with easy money. LaBrava finds himself drawn deeper into a scheme where nobody is exactly who they claim to be, motivations shift like Miami Beach sand, and violence erupts with the suddenness of a summer thunderstorm. His Secret Service training taught him to protect others, but now he’s got to figure out who actually needs protecting and who’s playing him. 💰

Set against the faded Art Deco backdrop of South Beach before gentrification transformed it into a playground for the wealthy, Leonard captures a moment when the neighborhood was home to retirees, criminals, and dreamers living in beautiful decay. LaBrava navigates this world with the cynical humor and street-smart awareness that defines Leonard’s best protagonists—men who’ve seen enough to be disillusioned but not enough to be completely jaded. As the scam unfolds and bodies start dropping, LaBrava discovers that the most dangerous con might be the one he’s running on himself. 🌴

What makes this classic: Elmore Leonard’s hard-boiled thriller follows ex–Secret Service agent Joe LaBrava mixed up in a South Miami Beach scam involving a redneck former cop, Cuban hit man moonlighting as go-go dancer, and one-time movie queen living between make-believe and deadly danger—set against faded Art Deco backdrop before gentrification, delivering Leonard’s trademark blend of action, violence, and humor as LaBrava navigates a con where nobody is who they claim.

Her marriage to Dr. Thad LaRue is perfect from the outside—idyllic even, the kind of relationship other couples envy with the successful surgeon husband, beautiful home, and carefully curated social media presence. So why does she feel like he’s hiding something again? That familiar gnawing suspicion that comes from experience, from knowing your husband is capable of deception because he’s already proven it once before. 💍

Two years ago, there was another woman. Younger, prettier, full of life and possibility. When she fell to her death on the cliffs during what should have been a romantic weekend getaway, it was ruled a suicide by authorities who saw a troubled young woman rather than a crime scene. But she’s always wondered about the convenient timing, the lack of witnesses, the way Thad’s story never quite added up despite sounding perfectly reasonable on the surface. 💔

Now, there’s a new woman in their lives—their beautiful, recently divorced neighbor who seems to appear everywhere they go. She mentions casually that her new boyfriend calls her “his lucky day,” using the exact words Thad once said during their own courtship. The exact phrase that made her feel special, chosen, treasured. Hearing those words directed at someone else sends ice through her veins. 🌹

It’s just a coincidence, she tells herself. She’s just paranoid, damaged by past betrayals and unable to trust. Or maybe she’s crazy, her judgment impaired by the oxy and wine that numbs the pain from her accident and from life itself. The pills that make reality softer, more bearable, easier to ignore. Right? To find out whether her suspicions have merit or she’s spiraling into delusion, she invites the neighbor to their annual holiday party. The next morning, the woman is found stabbed to death in circumstances that point directly at their household. Two women. Two affairs. Two deaths. Every woman Thad touches ends up dead. Except her. Or is it because of her? Is she the victim or the villain in this twisted story? ⚠️

What makes this twisted: Mary Stone and Caroline Clark’s psychological thriller follows a woman whose perfect marriage to Dr. Thad LaRue hides suspicions—two years after another woman fell to her death ruled suicide, their divorced neighbor uses Thad’s exact courtship phrase “his lucky day,” prompting an invitation to their holiday party where the neighbor is found stabbed dead, forcing the question: is she victim or villain when every woman Thad touches dies?

It’s July 5th, and the Cape Cod roadways are clogged with tourists heading home from the holiday weekend, their cars packed with beach chairs and sunburned children, everyone trying to outrun an approaching catastrophic hurricane that weather services are calling unprecedented. Traffic crawls bumper-to-bumper as half a million people attempt to leave the peninsula simultaneously, creating the mother of all evacuation nightmares. 🌊

But in the blink of an eye, their lives are thrown into chaos when terrorists bring down the bridges to the Cape in coordinated explosions, destroy the small regional airport with precision strikes, and disable the ferries that provide the only water access. The attacks are surgical, calculated, designed to trap rather than kill—at least initially. Instantly, a half million terrified people have no way to escape what has effectively become an island prison. 💣

And when the terrorists threaten to release weaponized anthrax on the captive population if their demands aren’t met within 48 hours, fear turns to all-out panic that spreads faster than any biological weapon. Parents clutch children. The elderly struggle to breathe in the chaos. Fights break out over rumors and misinformation. The veneer of civilization strips away frighteningly fast when people realize they’re trapped between terrorists and a hurricane with nowhere to run. 😷

With Category 4 Hurricane Chad barreling up the coast on a path for a direct hit on Cape Cod, packing 140 mph winds and a devastating storm surge, it becomes frighteningly clear to everyone trapped on what has now become an island of the damned—one way or another they are probably all going to die. The terrorists might kill them with anthrax. The hurricane might drown them or crush them under collapsing buildings. Panic might trample them. The military response might accidentally kill them as collateral damage. As the hours tick down and the hurricane approaches, impossible decisions must be made: do you try to fight the terrorists? Do you attempt escape knowing the bridges are gone? Do you shelter in place and pray? When every option leads to death, which death do you choose? 🌀

What makes this terrifying: Andrew Cunningham’s terrorism thriller traps half a million July 5th tourists on Cape Cod when coordinated attacks bring down bridges, destroy the airport, and disable ferries—when terrorists threaten to release anthrax if demands aren’t met and Category 4 Hurricane Chad barrels toward direct hit with 140 mph winds, everyone trapped realizes one way or another they’re probably going to die with nowhere to run.

Edwin Salamand has lived on a farm his whole life, which would be fine if he possessed even a shred of agricultural competence. The problem? He’s not very good at farming, or anything involving the outdoors, soil, animals, or plants for that matter. When his salamander farm goes belly up—literally, as salamanders started dying in alarming numbers due to his incompetence—he decides to cut his losses and move to a nearby city where hopefully his lack of outdoor skills won’t be such a liability. 🦎

A deal too good to be true goes predictably awry, and Edwin ends up with a dusty old bookshop filled to the brim with unassuming level one skill tomes. Pamphlets, really—the kind of basic instructional manuals that teach absolute beginners how to swing a sword without cutting off their own foot or cast a simple light spell. It’s not the most exciting windfall, but it’s a path to an honest life selling books to people even more clueless than himself, and Edwin is confident he can handle running a simple shop. 📚

Because running a bookshop for beginners has got to be safe and simple, right? No dangerous adventures, no life-threatening situations, just selling basic instruction manuals to people learning new skills. It turns out Edwin’s little shop is sitting smack dab in the center of not three, but four magical schools for people that actually enjoy getting soil underneath their fingernails and consider “adventure” a career path rather than a warning. Also known as adventurers—the kind of people Edwin has spent his entire life trying not to become. ⚔️

As eager warriors-in-training, alongside the occasional rowdy orc who takes “browsing” literally by breaking things, descend upon Edwin’s humble little shop, he’s going to find himself unexpectedly teaching lessons big and small about skills he’s never mastered himself. Maybe learning them too in the process, because sometimes it’s not the size of the book that matters, but how hard you throw it at the monster trying to eat your customers. Edwin might not be an adventurer, but surviving the chaos of running a bookshop in an adventuring district might be the greatest adventure of all—one he’s spectacularly unqualified for and didn’t sign up for. 🐉

What makes this delightful: Arthur Glenwood’s humorous fantasy follows incompetent farmer Edwin Salamand whose salamander farm goes belly up, leading him to acquire a dusty bookshop filled with level one skill tomes that sits between four magical schools—as eager warriors-in-training and rowdy orcs descend on his shop, Edwin unexpectedly teaches lessons while learning that sometimes survival depends on how hard you throw books at monsters eating your customers.