Hello friends and welcome to another cycle around the store as we shuffle books in, you shuffle books out, and someone—somewhere—does the hokey-pokey. That is what it is all about. So, let's get to it.
It's nice to see Danielle Steel leaning into the new year as she starts us off with Without a Trace. This one is about fighting for happiness, no matter the cost. It begins with Charles Vincent, a man who appears to have it all. But Charles isn't happy. His marriage is a sham, and his job is an empty void that is slowly draining the life out of him. Then, one night, his car goes off the road and plunges down a cliff. An accident? On purpose? It's hard to say. Regardless, Charles survives the crash and manages to find his way to a cozy little cabin along the coast where he is nursed back to health by a kind and beautiful woman. A woman he starts to fantasize about spending the rest of his life with. Would that be so bad? He is, after all, presumed dead from the crash. Would anyone miss him? Would this not be a better life?
Well, there is the small matter of the secrets his caretaker has . . . Oops. Now we're intrigued.
And Rachel Hawkins is back this week as well with The Villa, a deliciously twisted and wickedly gothic suspense novel. It's all about the secret history of a brutal murder that took place at a downright lovely estate in Italy. Once upon a time, a rock star invited an up-and-coming musician and the musician's girlfriend and stepsister to stay at the villa. In true Romantic style, the stepsister wrote a horror novel over the weekend, the girlfriend wrote an album that went platinum, and the up-and-coming musician got himself murdered. It's A Weekend at Lord Byron's meets the Manson Murders with a soundtrack by Fleetwood Mac.
And here's a new Holly Black book. The Stolen Heir is the first novel in a new Elfhame series, and this one begins with a reluctant prince and a runaway queen. Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, has wandered off to the human world where she is happily feral off in the woods. Naturally, she is rescued from this exile by Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame and her one-time betrothed. Oooh, she does not like this fellow, more so because he's found her in the wood. But the good prince—much too charming for his own good, by the way—needs Suren's help because up north, tucked away in the ice and snow, someone is building an army of monsters . . .
Hey, look! Ali Hazelwood has a new collection of steamy, STEMinist novellas. Loathe to Love You is all about magnetic forces of attraction and people getting under each other's skins as they desperately try to ignore the hot chemistry between them. While pursuing a PhD in neuroscience, Hazelwood discovered a decided lack of people making out in peer-reviewed articles about brain science, and she opted to spend more time writing about people making eyes at each other and having sexy conversations about STEM. We are all grateful for her sacrifice.
And here is Deepti Kapoor's Age of Vice, "an action-packed page-turner of epic proportions about the machinations of one dizzyingly weathly family in contemporary India and the outsiders who are drawn into their treacherous web." Sign us up!
And speaking of binge-worthy reads, here is Ana Reyes's The House in the Pines. It's about a young woman who is haunted by the death of her best friend when she was a teenager. When she learns of a recent death that is eerily similar, she finds herself wondering what really happened. Which means she must return to . . . wait for it . . . the house in the pines.
We love that the front cover blurb is provided by Riley Sager, who recently wrote The House Across the Lake. Now if we could get Paul Tremblay (who wrote The Cabin At the End of the World) to weigh in, then we'd be flush with ratings from other vacation rental writers.
Now here's a sentence we never thought we'd write: "Look! A Little Golden Book for Dungeons & Dragons!" This novelization of the upcoming film starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriquez—no wait, it's a tie-in to the . . . TV show from the 1980s? What? There was a D&D cartoon? Man, we missed that. Well, worry no more, because now it's been immortalized as a Little Golden Book!
Meanwhile, Alice Oseman is back with Nick and Charlie, a delightful snack of a novella about two young people who are facing that most dreaded of milestones: college. That's right. Nick is about to head off to school, leaving Charlie behind. Will their love survive? Will they grow apart? Will they find each other again? It's a Heartstoppert novella and you don't want to miss it!
And finally, here is Luc Cesari's The Discovery of Pasta: A History in Ten Dishes. Is it a cookbook? Is it a historical survey? Does it have scratch-and-sniff pages? Well, probably not the last, but Cesari takes us on a delightful tour of the rustic wheat-based dough that has graced every table from the modest farmer to the royal family. Yes, there are recipes. Yes, there are delightful anecdotes. What more could you want?
