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Star-Spangled Slayings (Killer Boxed Set) (affiliate link)
My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead people. Okay, so I rarely see dead people, mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety, who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom.
It’s the Fourth of July and my friend Bizzy Baker and her family have come to Honey Hollow to celebrate. My mother is debuting her new romance novel, and there’s a book signing at the lake. The authors are squabbling, Noah is brooding, Everett is determined to get me alone, and Carlotta is scheming to take over the world with her new friend Georgie Conner. I plan on showing Bizzy all the sites our cozy town has to offer, right up until a body is discovered. It’s up to Bizzy and me to track down the killer before they strike again. Fireworks are going off in our world, and the ramification will be explosive.
Mistfalls Wilderness Camp is an awful place, a series of islands in the rainy Northwest, populated by delinquents and outcasts from their families. It is supposed to be a remedial place—but Taylor soon learns something else is happening here. They are training the kids here for something. But what?
These kids are all different, not normal somehow. And as Taylor herself goes through changes she doesn’t understand, she can’t help but wonder: is she different, too?
But when a mysterious boy comes along, unlike anyone she’s ever met, Taylor is shocked at the power of her crush, and ready to risk it all for him.
The Knight (The Last Horizon Book 3) (affiliate link)
The Last Horizon has already sown new legends across the galaxy, tales of monsters defeated and worlds saved. For better and for worse, their reputation is spreading.
Their enemies have taken notice.
On Karosha, the Perfected gather fleets crewed by inhumanly flawless soldiers. In the Galactic Union, the secretive organization known as Solstice pulls strings in the shadows. And in the depths of Dark Space, after years of silence, the ravenous D’Niss begin to stir.
Raion Raithe, Knight of The Last Horizon, sees these threats as a chance to redeem himself. He will stand against the danger, and he will stand strong, no matter what it costs.
His friends are counting on him.
THE BLUE (The Genevieve Planche Book 1) (affiliate link)
London 1750s.
Genevieve Planché longs to break free from the constraints of her Huguenot upbringing and follow her dream of becoming an artist. But in a male-dominated world her options are non-existent.
A chance meeting with the charming and dashing Sir Gabriel Courtenay offers Genevieve a rare opportunity. He will help her reach Venice — the city of art — if she infiltrates the famed Derby Porcelain Factory and uncovers the mysteries behind the astonishing new shade of blue they have created.
But Genevieve discovers that the factory’s secrets run deeper than pigments and porcelain. Industrial spies lurk in the shadows, willing to kill for the formula. Even more dangerous is the growing attraction she feels for Thomas Sturbridge, the brilliant but guarded chemist at the heart of the experiments.
Knot Letting You Go (Scornedverse Book 1) (affiliate link)
They didn’t want me then, but it seems like the boys from my past don’t want anyone else to have me either.
We were always going to pack. But my teenage dreams were flipped upside down when they rejected me, leaving me bleeding and broken.
I survived and found my way. And now I’m returning home a completely different person to pack with my new alpha. First though, I have to put an end to what the boys from my past started.
Fate though has other ideas about us being finished. Chance meetings, half truths and my impending heat make for interesting times. And the advice from my girls, about who I let back into my heart and body, is as confusing as it sounds.
But what if we got everything wrong? What if our bond is like an eternal flame that will burn no matter what we face?
After accelerating their studies and graduating high school early, two teenagers set off from their hometown in Minnesota to embark on a 2200-mile canoe journey up the heart of North America. Their destination: the permafrost shores of Hudson Bay. Inspired by a passion for the simple life, where gadgets and schedules are replaced by nature and its harsh beauty, the duo found something that many believe is lost: a true adventure.
Follow the pair up the flooding Minnesota River and through the prairie plains of North Dakota, across man-sized waves on Lake Winnipeg, and down the foaming rapids of the Canadian north. The triumphs and trials of the unforgiving wild challenged their friendship, dreams, and lives in a way that even they could have never predicted. For those who have dreamt of wilderness escape, or those who prefer to simply read about it, Adventure North will spur the imaginative spirit and remind you that adventure is always just around the next bend.
THE SISTER JOAN MYSTERIES BOOKS 1–9 (affiliate link)
Meet Sister Joan, a rebel nun who solves baffling crimes.
Walking away from her lover to become a nun is the toughest step Joan has ever had to take. But she doesn’t regret it. Not now she’s found her other great calling in life: solving knotty mysteries that no one else can fathom.
Obedience doesn’t come easy to feisty Sister Joan. A gifted painter, she spent her twenties honing her craft at college, where she fell for controlling Jacob. He said she could never survive without him. But headstrong Joan will prove him wrong.
A Vow of Silence sees Joan arrive at Cornwall House, a rambling and remote old convent, where something is terribly wrong with her fellow Sisters.
The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel (affiliate link)
Sometimes, when you open the door to the past, what you confront is your destiny.
Reclusive author Vida Winter, famous for her collection of twelve enchanting stories, has spent the past six decades penning a series of alternate lives for herself. Now old and ailing, she is ready to reveal the truth about her extraordinary existence and the violent and tragic past she has kept secret for so long. Calling on Margaret Lea, a young biographer troubled by her own painful history, Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good. Margaret is mesmerized by the author’s tale of gothic strangeness—featuring the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire. Together, Margaret and Vida confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.
The Wolf Prince (The Royals Of Presley Acres Book 1) (affiliate link)
It’s my destiny as wolf prince to find my mate. But what happens when she’s someone that nobody expected…
I’ve lost count of the number of Lunar Mate ceremonies I’ve attended where every eye is on me.
As the son of shifter royalty, I’m supposed to find a fated mate who will continue my family’s powerful legacy. But at forty years of age, everyone is starting to think that person doesn’t exist, including me.
Then I experience a pull so deep and so undeniable, that when I look up and meet the eyes of a waitress, our gazes lock. Recognition sparks between us.
In an instant, I’m sure. This woman is mine.
I can tell my parents sense the connection, too. But judging by their expressions, they know something I don’t.
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II (affiliate link)
The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies, invented modern spycraft, and helped turn the tide of the war
At the start of WWII, the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today’s CIA, was quickly formed—and, in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work—and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts.
In Book and Dagger, Elyse Graham draws on personal histories, letters, and declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned spies. Among them are Joseph Curtiss, a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kent, a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibre, an archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS.
My Feral Romance (Fae Flings and Corset Strings) (affiliate link)
A painter in need of a model.
A matchmaker seeking a subject.
An arrangement that will tangle their hearts.
Fae shifter Daphne has landed the opportunity of a lifetime: illustrating her favorite author’s steamy romance novels. If only she could master male physiques…and other essential anatomy. What she needs is a model. Yet how does the socially awkward fae with a tendency to bite find a man she can comfortably paint in the nude?
Self-proclaimed matchmaker Monty Phillips is a hopeless romantic…but only when it comes to others. Meddling in the love lives of strangers via his popular advice column keeps romance a safe distance away. Yet when he’s tasked with demonstrating his tips on modern courtship, he’ll need to step out from behind the pen and into someone’s love life.
And he knows just the perfect plaything.
The Paris Secret (affiliate link)
England, 1939: The Penrose sisters couldn’t be more different. Skye is a daring and brash pilot, and Liberty the one to defy her at every turn. Even if women aren’t allowed in the Royal Air Force, Skye is determined to help the war effort. She’s thrilled when it reunites her with her childhood soulmate, Nicholas. She’s less thrilled to learn Nicholas is now engaged to an enigmatic Frenchwoman named Margaux Jourdan.
Paris, 1947: Designer Christian Dior unveils his glamorous first collection to a world weary of war and grief. He names his debut fragrance Miss Dior in tribute to his beloved sister Catherine, who forged a friendship with Skye and Margaux through her work with the French Resistance.
Present Day: Fashion conservator Kat Jourdan discovers a priceless collection of Dior gowns in her grandmother’s vacant cottage. As she delves into the mystery of their origin, Kat begins to doubt everything she thought she knew about her beloved grandmother.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2