May 31, 2024
New Fiction
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren – Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA – after graduation, they would sign divorce papers and leave it at that. Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck, while Liam is a Stanford professor and one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate. But there’s a catch if he wants his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam can’t claim the money until he’s been happily married for five years – and circumstances are forcing him to introduce his unpolished, not-so-ex wife to his one-percenter parents. But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foulmouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and supportive wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.
The Hunter’s Daughter by Nicola Solvinic – Anna Koray escaped her father’s darkness long ago. When she was a girl, her childhood memories were sealed away from her conscious mind by a controversial hypnosis treatment. She’s now a decorated sheriff’s lieutenant serving a rural county, conducting an ordinary life far from her father’s shadow. When Anna kills a man in the line of duty, her suppressed memories return, she dreams of her beloved father, his hands red with blood, surrounded by flower-decked corpses he had sacrificed to the god of the forest. To Anna’s horror, a serial killer emerges who is copying her father – and who knows who she really is. Is her father still alive, or is this the work of another? Will the killer expose her, destroying everything she has built for herself? Does she want him to? But as she haunts the forest, using her father’s tricks to hunt the killer, will she find what she needs most…or lose herself in the gathering darkness?
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware – Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctorate research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure her contract won’t be extended, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show One Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. This is the big break she needs! A whirlwind preproduction process later, Lyla finds herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean toward Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples – Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana – in order to win a cash prize. But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to reach the boat and crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. Tensions run high and fresh water runs low. When contestants start to die, Lyla realizes she and Nico are trapped on the island with a murderer on the loose…and nowhere to hide.
The Main Character by Jaclyn Goldis – Reclusive, mysterious author Ginevra Ex is famous for her unusual approach to crafting her big bestselling thrillers: she hires real people and conducts intensive interviews, then fictionalizes them. Her latest main character, Rory, is delighted when Ginevra presents her with an extravagant bonus - a lavish trip along Italy’s Mediterranean coast on the famed, newly renovated Orient Express. But when Rory boards the train, she’s stunned to discover that her brother, her best friend, and even her ex-fiancé are also passengers. All invited by Ginevra, all hiding secrets. With each stop, from Cinque Terre to Rome to Positano, it becomes increasingly clear that Ginevra has masterminded the ultimate real-life twisty plot with Rory as her main character. And as Ginevra’s deceptions mount, and the lies and machinations of Rory’s travel companions pile up, Rory begins to fear that her trip will conclude like one of Ginevra’s books: with a murder or two. In the opulent compartments of the iconic train, Rory must untangle the shocking reasons why Ginevra wanted them all aboard – and to what deadly end.