Word Salad by Susan Coll

 Matilda loves logic and order, and now her structured world is falling apart—in a bookstore.

Former economics major Matilda is moving back to her hometown of Washington D.C. to care for her ailing mother, and she’s desperate for money. She takes a job at her neighborhood bookstore and tries, in vain, to make sense of illogical business of books. To make things worse, she’s forced to team up with a new hire—the enigmatic, flaky, larger-than-life, Sage—who shows up on her first day of work with zero administrative skills and her tiny, puffy, incessantly urinating dog that resembles an underfed rat.

Something in the chaos begins to remind Matilda of her long-neglected creative side, and she starts to rediscover the person she once was before so much got in the way. But things get even more unmanageable when Matilda and Sage are tasked with putting together an event for the reclusive and controversial Dr. Jordan Rutabaga, a windbag of a public intellectual with a cult following that includes a number of people who would like to literally and figuratively see him dead. Rutabaga has a long list of alleged misdeeds, from plagiarism to failure to pay child support to stiffing the nanny.

As the event date approaches, Matilda and Sage discover that Sage and Rutabaga have their own not uncomplicated past, adding yet another person to list of people who do not wish him well. Add in a lawsuit and an impending snowstorm along with the potentially sinister presence of Rutabaga himself, and Matilda is about to come undone.

Bestselling author Susan Coll’s gastric, bookish, laugh-out-loud comedy of manners reminds us that sometimes things have to completely fall apart for them to perfectly come together.

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Word Salad: A Novel: Coll, Susan: 9781400346684: Amazon.com: Books

Susan Coll is the author of seven novels including REAL LIFE & OTHER FICTIONS AND BOOKISH PEOPLE. Her novel, Acceptance, a satire of the college admissions process, was made into a 2009 television movie starring Joan Cusack and Mae Whitman. Her other books include The Stager, Beach Week, Rockville Pike, and karlmarx dot com. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR dot org, atlantic dot com, and The Millions. She works at Politics & Prose Bookstore and was the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for five years.

Pretty As A peach by Grace Helena Walz

 Delilah Thomas has a stellar track record of avoiding conflict. Her life mantra? Keep the peace. Born to a family she has never fit in, Delilah learned early that no matter what it costs her, it's best to keep quiet, nod, and agree. Now in her late thirties, she has mastered the art and employs it daily with the preschoolers she teaches.

Then Peach Pit sets up shop in her small hometown and infiltrates every female relationship, including Delilah's lifelong best-friend group. A direct sales business, Peach Pit claims its beauty products are organic and all-natural and recruits women to become "Darlings" who host parties to sell products to friends and family. Delilah's friend Betsy is ecstatic to join, drawn by promises of sisterhood and easy income. But something seems off to Delilah.

When customers, including her pregnant friend Eliza, start reporting rashes, Peach Pit refuses to take responsibility. Then Betsy lets an unsettling secret slip, and Delilah can't hold her tongue any longer. With the help of her retired neighbor, Mrs. Chopra, and travel journalist Jasper--Delilah's longtime pen pal and childhood crush, finally in town for a visit--Delilah investigates the company and uncovers the grim truth. She is faced with a choice: Stop pushing and keep the peace, or find her courage and expose Peach Pit's shady business practices, even if it costs her the unthinkable.

Pick up your copy here..                                                                                                                                      Pretty as a Peach: Your next favorite book club pick – for fans of charming, small-town emotional reads in 2026!: Walz, Grace Helena: 9781400352852: Amazon.com: Books

Grace Helena Walz is a former social worker who writes heartfelt book club fiction with Southern settings and characters you'll want as friends. Her titles include Southern by Design and Good Hair Days. Grace resides outside of Atlanta, GA with her husband and two children and writes in the moments between driving carpool and making grocery lists. Pretty as a Peach is her third novel.

Monkeypig by Huw Aaron

 She's a monkey! No, she's a pig! She's . . . Monkeypig?

Molly happily resides in the jungle alongside all the other monkeys, living her best monkey life among the treetops. There's just one problem.

She's actually a pig.

And head monkey Norman knows it. To prove his instincts right, he puts Molly and the rest of her forest family through a series of tests designed to weed out any non-monkey monkeys. Molly gamely jumps . . . er, flops . . . through all of Norman's hoops, doing her piggy best to be the ultimate primate. At the end of this ropes course, they discover a surprise reveal about who the real monkey is after all.

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Monkeypig: Aaron, Huw, Aaron, Huw: 9798217039159: Amazon.com: Books

Huw Aaron is a Welsh cartoonist, author, and illustrator. After a short and fairly hopeless career in finance, Huw found a niche as a magazine cartoonist, producing joke cartoons for, among others, Harvard Business Review, Reader’s Digest, Private Eye, and The Spectator (London). He then started making comics and illustrating children’s books in his native Welsh. Huw’s harshest critics—and his best friends—are his wife, Luned,and their two daughters.

Hollow Twilight by Kieran Starovsky

 It's all fun and games until somebody dies. Delve into the unsettling world of Hollow Twilight, a Ready Player One meets Stranger Things LitRPG where there's no XP to collect and no loot to scavenge, but one wrong move could be the difference between life and death.

Reid, a seemingly average high school senior, is bored of his meaningless life. That is, until he and his friends learn about a new mobile game, Hollow Twilight, and decide to give it a shot. But what starts as a strangely immersive dark fantasy RPG turns out to be far more as the teens realize they've literally crossed over into the game world and must now fight the shadowy monsters hunting them with no clear understanding of how to survive.

It’s do or die for the group, which is par for the course in video games. But in Hollow Twilight, to die doesn’t just mean an inconvenient respawn, and when one of their party members is killed by a vicious monster known as a Pariah, it results in their real-life death.

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Hollow Twilight: Starovsky, Kieran: 9781039014183: Amazon.com: Books

KIERAN STAROVSKY works in the Toronto start-up space, has a degree in English Literature from York University, and wanders the city with his wife and children. When not writing, he is usually scouring specialty stores for old video games he owned once as a kid.

Vow of Eternal Night by Lily Crozier

 

Don't miss out on the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run in the U.S. and Canada only, a must-have for any book lover.

Clara Wagner has always known that monsters are real, and the worst of them is Prince Raleigh of Rostenburg. But when he decides it’s time to marry, Clara inadvertently finds herself at the center of his attention.

Forced to accept Raleigh’s proposal, Clara would do anything to escape her fate. So when the prince provides an ultimatum―lift his vampiric curse before the end of the year, or become his bride for eternity―Clara knows what she must do.

Heal the prince. Stay alive. Try not to fall in love.

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Amazon.com: Vow of Eternal Night: A Standalone, Gothic Paranormal Romance: 9781682816981: Crozier, Lily: Books

Lily Crozier has always surrounded herself with books. Born in London into a family of book collectors, she has been a bookseller, BookToker and book publicist. She has a Bachelor in Asia-Pacific Studies and a Master in Publishing and studied in Australia and Japan. When she isn’t reading, writing or talking about books, you can often find her playing video games or dreaming up stories about monstrous men. She lives in Sydney with a book collection that’s too big for her apartment and can be found online as @lilycantstopreading. Vow of Eternal Night is her first novel.

Candy Apple Kisses by Amy Clipston

 

This autumn, love is in the air.

Artist Emily Carmichael has always considered Splendid Lake her home, but she never imagined she would ever return. However, when she learns her childhood best friend, Jake Hughes, is struggling to save the beloved Hughes Family Orchard, she doesn't hesitate to pack her bags and head back to the North Carolina mountains--even if it means battling a corporate giant and resisting the temptation of too many candy apples.

For Jake, the orchard is more than just a business; it's a living legacy, a bond with his father and a promise to his family. As Jake and Emily work side-by-side to prepare for the orchard's centennial anniversary, long-held feelings, once hidden beneath years of friendship, begin to surface. For Jake, Emily's return illuminates what's been missing in his life, and for Emily, being with Jake stirs long-dormant emotions she's too scared to name. The air is crisp, the apples are sweet, and the sparks? They're flying higher than a bonfire.

But with Jake's ex-girlfriend's dramatic reappearance and the mounting pressure to keep the orchard from failing, their budding romance is put to the test. Can these two best friends turn a season of chaos into a lifetime of love, or will their romance fall flat before the first frost?

Pick up your copy here....                                                                                                                                  Candy Apple Kisses: A cozy, low-spice fall romance: Clipston, Amy: 9780840716491: Amazon.com: Books

Amy Clipston has been writing for as long as she can remember. Her fiction writing "career" began in elementary school when she and a close friend wrote and shared silly stories. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and is a member of the Authors Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery series with Zondervan, which is part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. An advocate for organ and blood donation, Amy donated a kidney in 2011 at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Through her donation, her husband received a second kidney transplant. Amy and her husband matched another couple and swapped kidneys with them. Amy's memoir, A Gift of Love, will be available in early 2014. She hopes her story inspires others to become organ and blood donors. Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, mother, and four spoiled rotten cats.

Play it again by Georgia Clark

 When four former theater kids reunite after twenty years, forgotten crushes, unresolved tension, and fresh chemistry steal the spotlight in this charming queer ensemble rom-com.

Love always deserves an encore.

As teens, Annie, Lola, Vicky, and Dylan stole the show in a legendary gender-swapped version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Two couples, one unforgettable summer—until the closing-night party tore them apart, and not all of them knew why.

Now, with lives that look nothing like they imagined, the foursome is called home by their beloved director for a one-night-only revival to save the theater and the town. Returning to Rhodes means facing everything they left behind: long-buried secrets, undeniable chemistry, and the chance to write a brand-new ending—together.

Brimming with nostalgia, wit, and small-town sparkle, Play It Again is a heartwarming story of first love, second chances, and the magic of finding your way back to the stage—and to the ones who knew you best.

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Play It Again: A Novel (Dial Delights): Clark, Georgia: 9780593729106: Amazon.com: Books

Georgia Clark is the author of MOST WONDERFUL, ISLAND TIME, IT HAD TO BE YOU, THE BUCKET LIST, THE REGULARS, plus two YA novels, SHE'S WITH THE BAND and PARCHED. She's passionate about good jokes, queer stuff and cheese.

She’s the host/founder of the internationally popular storytelling night, Generation Women, which performs monthly at New York’s iconic Joe’s Pub. Georgia teaches romance writing, mentors up-and-coming writers, hosts weekend writers’ retreats, and creates the monthly author newsletter, Heartbeat. A native Australian, she lives in Brooklyn with her hot wife and sweet toddler.