December 20, 2024
New Fiction
A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison – A great writers knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder. With a number of hit titles and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she’s lying dead. Columbia’s death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on – at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author’s illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won’t stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out?
Variation by Rebecca Yarros – Elite ballerina Allie Rousseau is no stranger to pressure. With her mother’s eyes always watching, perfection was expected, no matter the cost. But when an injury jeopardizes all she’s sacrificed for, Allie returns to her summer home to heal and recover. But the memories she’s tried to forget rush in and threaten to take her under. As a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hudson Ellis knows that hesitation can mean the difference between life and death. He’s always prided himself on being in the right place at the right time, especially when it came to Allie Rousseau…until the night he left for basic. After the biggest regret of his life, the secrets he keeps mean he can never be with the one woman he wants more than his next breath. When Hudson’s niece shows up on Allie’s doorstep, desperate to find her birth mother, Allie finds herself in an unimaginable position. Allie and Hudson’s past and present might be endlessly complicated. The thread that tied them to each other all those years ago may have unraveled, but the truth could pull them back together, or drive them apart forever.
What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane – Dr. Richmond Dougherty is a renowned pediatric surgeon, an infamous tragedy survivor, and a national hero. He’s also very dead – thanks to a fall down the stairs. His neighbors angrily point a finger at the newest Mrs. Dougherty, Addison. The sudden marriage to the mysterious young woman only lasted ninety-seven days, and he’d had two suspicious “accidents” during that time. Now Addison is a very rich widow. As law enforcement starts to circle in on Addison, and people in town become increasingly hostile, sides are chosen, with Kathryn – Richmond’s high school sweetheart, wife number one, and the mother of his children – leading the fray. Despite rising tensions, Addison is even more driven to forge ahead on the path she charted years ago… Determined at all costs to unravel Richmond’s legacy, Addison soon becomes a target – with a shocking note left on her bedroom wall: You will pay. But it will take a lot more than faceless threats to stop her. Her plan to marry Richmond and then ruin him may have been derailed by his unexpected death, but she’s not done with him yet.
The Champagne Letters by Kate MacINTOSH – Reims, France, 1805: Barbe-Nicole Clicquot has just lost her beloved husband but is determined to pursue their dream of creating the premier champagne house in France, now named for her new identity as a widow: Veuve Clicquot. With the Russians posed to invade, competitors fighting for her customers, and Napoleonic court politics complicating matters, Barbe-Nicole must set herself apart quickly and permanently if she, and her business, are to survive. In present-day Chicago, broken from her divorce, Natalie Taylor runs away to Paris. In a book stall by the Seine, she finds a collection of the Widow Clicquot’s published letters and uses them as inspiration to step out of her comfort zone and create a new, empowered life for herself. But her Parisian escape takes a shocking and unexpected turn when she meets a charming Frenchman, and Natalie must make a choice. Should she return home to what she’s always known, or seek a future she’s only dreamed about? What would the widow do? With the help of the widow’s advice, Natalie learns to become the kind of woman who stands up for herself. As her adventure takes her from tiny jewelry stores to picturesque champagne vineyards and beyond, she learns to trust her instincts and fight for the future she deserves.