Books Publishing This Week: June 15-21

Jun 17

Jun 17 Books Publishing This Week

It’s a golden mid-June afternoon, and you’re exactly where you want to be—on the beach, toes dug into sun-warmed sand, a light breeze playing with your hair, and a freshly cut coconut in your hand, cool against your palm. You tip it slightly and sip, the coconut water sweet and crisp, the kind of taste that makes you close your eyes for a second and appreciate the simple perfection of it. You smile. This is summer.

Around you, the beach hums with quiet life. A few children chase each other along the shoreline, their laughter carried on the wind. A beach umbrella flutters nearby, and the waves roll in and out with a soothing rhythm that feels like the Earth’s own breathing. But your little spot—tucked slightly away from the crowd, shaded by a leaning palm—is peaceful. It feels like the perfect backdrop for something new, something slow and lovely: the beginning of a book.

You pull it from your beach bag, the pages slightly cool from sitting in the shade. The cover is smooth under your fingers, and you take a moment before opening it, letting the anticipation build. There’s something about this first moment—before the first page is turned—that always feels a little sacred. The promise of it, the clean slate, the possibility that you’re about to fall into a story that will linger in your mind long after the final chapter.

You crack it open and begin to read. The first few lines draw you in gently, like a tide pulling at your ankles. It’s a story that starts slow, not rushing anywhere, letting you get your bearings in this new world of characters and scenery. The sound of the ocean fades just slightly, like the story has layered itself on top of everything else. You turn another page. Then another. You sip your coconut water, feeling utterly unhurried, utterly content.

The sun is warm on your shoulders, but not too hot. You can feel the texture of sand beneath your towel, the tiny crunch as you shift your weight, and the occasional cool kiss of breeze on your skin. It’s one of those days where time doesn’t feel rigid—no clock ticking, no agenda pulling at you. Just you, the sea, and the steady rhythm of words flowing off the page.

You pause now and then to look up, letting your eyes drift toward the horizon. The ocean glimmers, silver in some spots, turquoise in others. A sailboat bobs gently in the distance, and a pelican glides low over the waves, wings skimming the surface. These little intermissions don’t break the spell of the book—they enhance it. They weave your reality into the story, and the story into your reality.

You read until the sun begins its slow descent, shadows stretching across the sand. The coconut is nearly empty now, the last few sips pleasantly cool. You consider putting the book down, saving more for later—but you can’t yet. Not when you’re just starting to understand the characters, not when something intriguing has just been hinted at. You turn another page, and then another.

Eventually, you’ll pack up and brush the sand from your legs, head home with sea salt in your hair and a heart still half in the pages. But for now, you stay. The story is just beginning, and so is summer. And here, on a beach in the middle of June, you’ve found both—tangled together, perfectly timed.

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The Mood Swing by B.R. Duray

Debut author B.R. Duray is releasing the print edition of his whimsical children’s picture book “The Mood Swing" (Moon Tree Studios, June 15, 2025) on Father’s Day. Inspired by the author’s own experience with the loss of his dad at a young age, this heartfelt tale takes young readers on a magical journey through life’s emotional highs and lows.

The story follows Peter, a young boy grappling with grief after his father’s passing. A magical swing, tethered to a Moon Tree, propels Peter into fantastical adventures that mirror his emotions. When Peter is happy, with both of his parents by his side, he blasts off into a whimsical adventure through Outer Space – a dream come true! When he returns a year later without his father, unable to find the magic he once had, the swing descends, plunging Peter into a pit of quicksand.

With the help of his mother and the comforting reminder that his father is always with him in the stars, Peter learns to find balance and rediscover the joy of the swing. Through its delightful narrative and engaging illustrations, the book aims to provide solace, hope, and joy to families, especially in difficult times. Though the story is particularly helpful for those who are struggling with grief, it can also soothe kids who experience big emotions and need help navigating them.

A Promise to Arlette by Serena Burdick

With the scope of a saga and the heart of a thriller, this is an evocative historical novel following a married couple whose idyllic 1950s suburban life is threatened by the promises they made during World War II.

Sidney and Ida Whipple are living the suburban 1950s American dream, complete with two children and a white picket fence, which didn’t seem possible when they first met at the height of WWII in France. Reveling in the present, they can almost convince themselves that their past is behind them. But when their neighbors show off a newly purchased Man Ray photograph, Ida comes face-to-face with the person she loved and lost in the war: Arlette.

Only Ida knows the truth about the photograph, and why it can’t possibly be authentic. In an attempt to right past wrongs, she travels to California vowing to confront Man Ray. Sidney wakes to find his wife is missing, the photograph in question stolen, and all the secrets they’ve tried to bury come rushing back. With his daughters in tow, he travels after Ida, hoping to forge a new path together. Instead, their sojourn leads to a shocking discovery that could pull their family apart in this sweeping, unforgettable story about love and friendship, trust and betrayal, and how promises made, broken, and ultimately renewed, can determine our fate.

You’ve Awoken Her by Ann Dávila Cardinal

All Gabi wants is to spend the summer in his room, surrounded by his Funkos and books, but with his mom traveling, his bags are packed for the last place he wants to visit—the Hamptons. Staying with his best friend should have him willing to peek out of his cave, but ever since Ruth’s nouveau riche family moved, their friendship has been off.

Surrounded by mansions, country clubs, and Ruth’s new boyfriend, Frost Thurston—the axis that Hampton society orbits around—it doesn’t take long for Gabi to feel completely out of place. But when he witnesses a woman being pulled under the ocean water, and no one—not the police or anyone else in the Hamptons—seems to care, Gabi starts to wonder if maybe the beachside town’s bad vibes are more real than he thought.

As the “accidental” deaths and drownings begin to climb, Gabi knows he’ll need proof to convince Ruth they’re all in danger. And while the Thurston family name keeps rising to the top, along with every fresh body, what’s worst is that all the signs point to something lurking beneath the water—something with tentacles and a thirst for blood. Can Gabi figure out how the two are intertwined and put an end to the string of deaths…before becoming the water’s next victim?

Love on Tour by Lee Adams

Author Interview with Lee Adams

Who knew a broken heel can change your life?

Though she has her dream job—finding new songs for singers in the booming country music industry—music executive Christine Matthews lives an unexciting life. That is, until a broken shoe sends her sprawling on the street right in front of Nashville singing sensation Austin Garrett’s tour bus, and Austin himself comes to her aid.

When Austin recognizes Christine as the woman who pitched him his recent number one hit, he invites her to be his date at the CMT Awards that night, and like that, Christine is catapulted from a life of solitude to the spotlight. Suddenly, she’s the subject of much speculation—and criticism. Some jealous fans think she’s not pretty or thin enough, and they begin to cyber-bully and body shame her.

But that’s not the only reason Christine thinks accepting Austin’s invitation to join him on tour and help him find another big hit might be a bad idea. She’s also developing feelings for his tour manager, Matt. And one of her online bullies has turned threatening, bringing up trauma from Christine’s past. Is the turmoil worth it? Or is her only real solution to walk away from all of it—even the man who might just be the love of her life?

Last Dance Before Dawn: A Mystery by Katharine Schellman

Author Interview with Katharine Schellman

Last Dance before Dawn is the final book in the luscious, mysterious, and queer Nightingale mystery series by Katharine Schellman, set in 1920s New York.

Vivian Kelly has finally created a home and a family at the glamorous speakeasy known as The Nightingale, where no one cares who you are in the daytime. After all, in the underground world of 1920s New York City, everyone has a secret to keep, and they’re on the Nightingale's dance floor to leave those secrets behind. But sometimes it takes more than a dance to escape your past.

When a stranger from Chicago shows up at The Nightingale looking to settle old scores, Vivian and the Nightingale's owner, the mysterious and alluring Honor Huxley, send him packing. They soon discover, though, that the stranger was just a warning. Slowly, the people who have made The Nightingale their home realize that someone is following them. Hunting them. And that someone won’t stop until they unravel a mystery that’s been cold for years: a missing girl, a boy out for revenge, and a truck full of cash that disappeared in a job gone horribly wrong.

Vivian just wants to protect the people she loves, and she's willing to dig into the dirt of the past to make it happen. But some questions are safer left unanswered, and now that Vivian has built a family for herself, she has more to lose than ever before.

Mob Queen by Erin Bledsoe

Set in the 1930s, Mob Queen follows one woman’s rapid rise through the Mafia as she searches for the truth about what happened to her friend and navigates a perilous relationship with the infamous Bugsy Siegel.

All Virginia Hill wanted was a better life.

She escaped her abusive father and dreary, small-town Georgia existence by marrying a man who took her to Chicago. But the realities of the Depression—and her husband’s volatile temper—soon destroyed Virginia’s fragile idea of happiness. With the help of a new friend, Madeline, she finds the courage to stand up to her husband—only to end up divorced and destitute.

Down but not out, Virginia joins Madeline working as a waitress in one of the Mob’s favorite hangouts, a restaurant smack-dab in the middle of the World’s Fair. But when Madeline disappears after getting involved with the wrong Mafia man, Virginia vows to find her friend no matter what. But to do that, she’ll have to follow Madeline into the heart of the Chicago Mob . . .

As Virginia climbs the ranks and unravels the mystery of what happened to her friend, working for the Mafia proves both seductive and deadly. What started as a desperate attempt to find Madeline brings power she never imagined a poor girl from Georgia would ever have. It turns out a woman can be a mobster, but she’ll have to give up her heart to do it.

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman

Author Interview with Laura Lippman

In the pantheon of modern crime fiction, Laura Lippman is a towering figure—a writer whose name is synonymous with sharp wit, unparalleled storytelling, and an uncanny ability to craft narratives that resonate beyond the page. With MURDER TAKES A VACATION, Lippman offers a twist on a classic “whodunit”—and a refreshing portrait of a woman finally ready to claim agency over her own choices, proving it’s never too late for second—or even third—chances.

Mrs. Blossom has a knack for blending into the background, which was an asset during her days assisting private investigator Tess Monaghan. But when she finds a winning lottery ticket in a parking lot, everything changes. She is determined to see the world that she sometimes feels is passing her by.

When Mrs. Blossom booked her cruise through France on the MS Solitaire, she did not expect to meet Allan on her transatlantic flight. He is the first man who’s sparked something inside her since her beloved husband passed.

She also didn’t expect Allan to be found, dead, twenty-four hours later in Paris, a city he wasn’t supposed to be in.

Now Mrs. Blossom doesn’t know who to trust on board the ship, especially when a mystifying man, Danny, keeps popping up around every corner, always present when things go awry. He is convinced that Allan was transporting a stolen piece of art, and Mrs. Blossom knows more than she lets on, regarding both the artifact and Allan’s death.

Mrs. Blossom’s questions only increase as the cruise sails down the Seine. Why does it feel like she is being followed? Who was Allan, and why was he killed? Most alarmingly, why do these mysterious men keep flirting with her?

Porthole by Joanna Howard

World-renowned art-house film director Helena Désir may (or may not!) be responsible for the on-set death of Corey, her latest muse, leading man of the moment, and frequent bedmate. Haunted by the accident, a long trail of ex-lovers, and the corporate film studio who desperately wants to keep her, their cash cow, at work, Helena unravels and is swiftly delivered to a luxury retreat known as Jaquith House, where fellow sufferers of psychic exhaustion—an agèd sound artist, an international entrepreneur, a tennis pro, a woodsman, twin Finnish massage therapists, and a sex-addicted chef—ferry her from meal, to rest activity, to spa experience, to canoe ride, and back to dinner again, with unmatched hilarity and wit. Told with a captivating quick clip of a gait, Porthole is a portrait of an auteur at the peak of her powers and in the midst of an extravagant, albeit well-dressed, meltdown. Hallucinatory and imagistic, filled to the brim with champagne toasts, boathouse romps, brothels, yoga pants, Parisian hotels, dressing room hookups, and red carpet faux pas, Porthole gifts us the world through the eye of the camera lens, as if through a sea of glass, and asks: If we’ve sinned in the service of art, can we be forgiven?

Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyoncé, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade by Nora Princiotti

An entertaining and deeply nostalgic dive into how female pop stars broke through the music industry in the 2000s and altered the cultural landscape forever, from the Ringer writer and Every Single Album podcast cohost

Low-rise jeans, butterfly clips, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and Paris Hilton’s nights out. The early 2000s were a time of major moments in fashion, media, celebrity culture, and especially music. The aughts were a particularly fruitful era for female artists—still the only decade in the history of recorded music when women made up more than half the list of highest-grossing performers—and especially pop stars. Artists such as Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Beyoncé were leading the charge—their success not only leading to a new respect for female artists, but for pop stardom itself.

In Hit Girls, Nora Princiotti examines how these artists redefined the role of the pop star within the music industry and culture more broadly, and fundamentally set the stage for the women who top the charts today. Princiotti unpacks the shifts in genre, technology, and celebrity culture that sparked this evolution through the stories of the biggest names in aughties pop. Like how Britney opened the bubblegum floodgates at the start of the decade, inspiring both copycats like Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson and mall punk antagonists like Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson. Or how innovations in technology led to the rise of EDM as Rihanna experimented with sound while Ke$ha and Katy Perry embraced the “party anthem.”

Along the way, Princiotti explores how celebrity evolved alongside the changes in media from the tabloid days à la Lindsay Lohan to MySpace, Instagram and how Taylor created one of the largest, most dedicated fandoms the world has ever seen.

The ultimate love letter to pop music, Hit Girls celebrates the women who revolutionized the genre, inspired the next generation, and—in some cases—are burning brighter than ever.

Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor

Author Interview with Hazel Gaynor

Books by Hazel Gaynor

Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale, sets off on her own grand adventure, leaving gritty Chicago behind for Kansas and a life that will utterly change her, in this transporting novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.

Chicago, 1924: Emily and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago for the promise of their own American dream among the harsh beauty of the prairie. But leaving the city means leaving Emily’s beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world.

Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have established their new home among the warmth of the farming community in Kansas. Aligned to the fickle fortunes of nature, their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep.

The wide-eyed child isn’t the only thing to disrupt Emily’s world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and her much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy.

Bursting with courage and heart, Before Dorothy tells the story of the woman who raised a beloved heroine, and ponders the question: what is the true meaning of home?

Rewind to Us by Molly Morris

Again, But Better meets Maybe in Another Life in this love story with a magical twist!

Dixie Mulligan only has one plan for her annual California vacation this summer – to tell her best friend Sawyer that she’s in love with him.

It doesn’t matter that things between them technically fell apart over spring break, and they haven’t spoken since – until Dixie arrives and realizes Sawyer has moved on (a fact made very apparent when she sees him kissing, um, someone else).

Luckily, Dixie and her family have each been gifted with a Rewind. All Dixie has to do is go back and redo the moment she thinks doomed hers and Sawyer’s relationship before it even began.

But when family secrets start pouring out, Dixie’s not so sure even her Rewind will be enough to save what she and Sawyer had. Is the damage already done, or can she turn back the clock and give them one more chance?

Facing the Jaguar by Babs Walters

The average person can keep a secret for forty-seven hours. Babs Walters held the worst kind of secret for nearly 70 years–that she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father, beginning at age 11. “Facing the Jaguar” is Babs’ inspirational story of resilience and courage—a story that proves anything is possible when we claim our truth and shine a light in even the darkest of places. It’s never too late to tell your story. It’s never too late to heal.

For Emma by Ewan Morrison

How Far Would You Go to Save Your Child from the Machines?

A year after Emma Henson, a young, genius biotech scientist, dies in a covert AI brain-chip experiment, her father, Josh, has nothing left to live for and vows to get revenge on the Silicon Valley CEO responsible.

Josh has thirty days to make his homemade bombs and to say goodbye to life. To give himself courage in the countdown, he records daily video messages to his lost "Em." Memories flood him as he searches for the moments in Emma’s short life where he could have been a better father and saved her.

Fueled by the horrific memories of Em’s death—her body and brain devoured by the AI “infinity” system—he grapples with constructing and testing his DIY bombs as his thirty days start to run out, and Emma’s voice returns to him, speaking with him as he sets to complete his mission. He worries that he’s gone insane—he doubts if he can see the violent act through—but Emma’s voice insists he continue on his path toward murder and mayhem. Josh tries to resist his daughter’s voice as it attempts to take full control of his body. But is it even her? Or is it a ghost, a psychotic delusion, or the AI system that is controlling him?

Inspired by the real-life Brain Chip Implant experiments (Musk/Neuralink) and the technogothic tradition (Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Island of Dr. Moreau), For Emma is a tale of possession by a new force unleashed by science. It is a warning for the future but also an intimate, heart-breaking study of the love between a father and daughter and of the madness that grief can drive us to.

The Teacher of Auschwitz by Wendy Holden

Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts . . .
Amid the brutality of the Holocaust, one bright spot shone inside the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. In the shadows of the smokestacks was a wooden hut where children sang, staged plays, wrote poetry, and learned about the world. Within those four walls, brightly adorned with hand-painted cartoons, the youngest prisoners were kept vermin-free, received better food, and were even taught to imagine having full stomachs and a day without fear. Their guiding light was a twenty-seven-year-old gay, Jewish athlete: Fredy Hirsch.
Being a teacher in a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Forced to beg senior SS officers for better provisions, Fredy risked his life every day to protect his beloved children from mortal danger.
But time was running out for Fredy and the hundreds in his care. Could this kind, compassionate, and brave man find a way to teach them the one lesson they really needed to know: how to survive?
The Teacher of Auschwitz shines a light on a truly remarkable individual and tells the inspiring story of how he fought to protect innocence and hope amid depravity and despair.

Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan

Author Interview with Allison Brennan

In this sun-dappled mystery from New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan, a risk-averse bibliophile gets in over her head when strange notes in a book draw her into a real-life investigation.

Mia Crawford is responsible to a fault. She has to be. Between her high-demand job and taking care of her grandmother and her cats, she has little time for anything else. What time she does have, she pours into reading. Mysteries, romances, thrillers…books filled with women who are far more impulsive than she would ever dream of being. Now, forced into taking a long-overdue vacation, she finds herself on a luxurious private island where she just might have a chance to reinvent herself—for a little while, anyway. She can explore the island. Flirt shamelessly with a cute bartender. Have a vacation fling. Live like a heroine in one of her favorite novels.

Or she can curl up with a good book on the beach. Turns out reinventing yourself is easier planned than done. But when gossipy notes written in the margins of an old book turn out to be clues to the disappearance of another guest, Mia finds herself diving head-first into a dangerous adventure. With everyone at the resort hiding secrets of their own, she’ll have to solve this real-life mystery before she becomes the next target.

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven

When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother Ellis went missing the summer he graduated high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture in the seventies. He had found joy in the communal life there, but died in a freak accident weeks later.

From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’s girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep. Each Samuelson has sought their own solace: Sybil Samuelson pours herself into teaching and numbing her pain after the loss of her beloved son; her husband, Phil, had found respite in a love that developed while he was working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia; Katie, the high achieving middle Samuelson, comes home to try and make peace with her mother after a cancer diagnosis. And Sally has become the de facto caretaker to Eva, the child Ellis never knew.

The Robin on the Oak Throne

The only thing worse than fearing a monster is falling for one…

Kierse McKenna just shattered the Monster Treaty. Again.

It wasn’t entirely her fault. The job was supposed to be simple: steal a goblin-made bracelet off of the Queen of the Nymphs in her own palace. Trade the bracelet for a way to uncover the truth about her past. Except everything goes sideways.

And then he shows up to save her.

About Bliss by Cristina Olivetti

Cristina's son was about to embark on gender-affirming care that would likely cause infertility, when she realised the need to support both her child and the adult he would become, and give him the right to have children of his own. In doing so she discovered a future - where living your life authentically doesn't mean giving up your fertility - that may be accessible to many, many more trans people in the coming years.
Through interviews with trans thought leaders, letters to her son, and missives about the struggle for reproductive rights of trans people, as well as practical advice for parents, Cristina weaves together a tapestry of voices from the trans community to tell a story that has never been told before -- of transformation, and hormones, and hope. An amazing resource for parents of children undergoing gender affirming care, and a beautiful meditation on the euphoria and challenge of transition

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