It’s not too late to visit the Menagerie…     In 1986, the country experienced one of humanity’s most horrific tragedies, The Reaping— a nationwide slaughter of six-year-old children by their parents. And perhaps even more terrifying: The few six-year-old survivors aren’t the children their families believed they were. Fast-forward to the 25th birthday of Delilah Marlow,  an ordinary young woman in a not-quite-ordinary world, visiting a breathtaking traveling carnival of fantastical creatures, (read more…)

EW.com featured Lori Foster’s Cooper’s Charm [HQN], a two-romances-in-one story set against the backdrop of a charming camping resort of the same name, in its round-up Hot Stuff: July romance novels tackle tricky tropes. And they threw in this fun comp to a cult film favorite for good measure: “The story is a heart-warming tale of four broken people whose affection and care for one another helps them to heal in myriad ways. (read more…)

…don’t miss the lyrically eerie novel The Stranger Game [October, Hanover Square Press] by Peter Gadol. In the eponymous game, players have begun to track complete strangers in real life, initially as a form of empathy-building and connection in an increasingly disconnected world … until the game gains popularity, the rules evolve, the players grow more intense, and disappearances are suddenly being reported across the country. When one woman’s boyfriend disappears into the (read more…)

JT Ellison (Lie to Me) ratchets up the stakes in Tear Me Apart [August 28, MIRA] about a 17-year-old’s race against the clock as she desperately seeks the truth behind her birth–even as doctors are racing to save her life. Says PW in their starred review of Tear Me Apart, “Ellison is at the top of her game.” Tear Me Apart is available for request on Netgalley!   [Tear Me Apart (read more…)

Sarah Morgan is best known most recently for her sparkling “From Manhattan with Love” romance series, but her first foray into women’s fiction is already racking up rave reviews. Morgan’s How To Keep A Secret [HQN] has earned not one but two stars with her story about three generations of women who are bought together by a crisis, learning over the course of a hot summer in Martha’s Vineyard about the power (read more…)