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MURDER AT THE WHITE PALACE

The Right Sort Marriage Bureau is the brainchild of former spy Iris Sparks and war widow Gwendolyn Bainbridge, who’s recently been declared sane by the courts after her husband’s aristocratic family tried to wrest control of her life and her son from her. Inspired by their success in matching clients looking for love, Gwen comes up with the idea of a New Year’s Eve dance that will bring customers together in a romantic setting. But finding a venue proves difficult until Iris’ current swain, Arc

GOODBYE EARL

In 2004, Rosemarie, Ada, Caroline, and Kasey (who affectionately refer to themselves as RACK) are graduating from high school in a small Southern town. Each is mired in concerns for the future, first-time loves, and tumultuous family situations: Rosemarie and Kasey have plans to move away, while Ada and Caroline plan to stay in Goldie and open businesses together. Fifteen years later, the four are reunited in Goldie for the first time since then, as Kasey has finally returned home from New York

ARCA

Arca is a spaceship built by a select group of billionaires as the Earth was dying. It’s heading to Eden, the nearest habitable planet, with passengers divided into Citizens, those who hold all the power; Settlers, people under 18 who serve them in exchange for a promise of paradise; and Helpers, the Citizens’ security forces. Shortly before her graduation from the Settlers, 17-year-old Effie discovers an object in the farm soil on Eden that leads her to question the Citizens’ honesty—something

THE BATTLE BEYOND

The authors observe that the promise of outer space as a “warfighting domain” is considerable—it offers a “nuanced menu of alternatives” to “more disruptive options” for Earthly conflicts, and it could ultimately offer avenues of aggression that minimize the loss of life. However, since space warfare is such a new concept, it is challenging to strategically and tactically prepare for the eventuality, a point persuasively made by Szymanski and Drew in this remarkably thorough study. To meet this

LOUD

Afualo never intended to become famous on TikTok. Her goal had been to become a football reporter because football was home to many members of her Samoan community. Then, dismissal from her dream job, followed in quick succession by the Covid-19 pandemic, changed her plans. “The reality of it going down the drain so quickly and aggressively crushed my spirit in ways I had never anticipated,” she writes. The author joined TikTok and posted humorous tirades against “awful men who attack marginali

OH, PANDA

An intrusive narrator asks Panda about the day’s plans, but our hero is besotted with a magnificent magenta butterfly. Panda follows the flitting insect steadily until it flies up the sides of a steep mountain. While the narrator tries to guide Panda back to other activities, the determined bear attempts the climb. After an initial failure (“you’re still a bit too small”), Panda tries again, using sap and branches to get a hold. Nothing works. Only when the narrator accedes to the situation and

MEN IN WHITE

Sportswriter Raymond, a Penn State alum who covered the school’s football team as a student journalist, opens with events that are now dimly receding into the past but were then shockingly immediate. In 2011, longtime coach Jerry Sandusky, who had been retired for more than a decade, was arrested for dozens of incidents of child molestation. Soon after, the school’s president and its famed head coach, Joe Paterno, were fired. Hired away from the New England Patriots, new coach Bill O’Brien was

LOST AND FOUND

Drama queen Heart Lamarr (who is White) still takes center stage (except in the school play: “UNDERSTUDY?!”), but some of her friends step into the limelight now and again. Kat, who is biracial, discovers that eyeglasses aren’t the social stigma she expects and becomes smitten by brown-skinned hijab-wearing classmate Lee. Dean, who is White, stands up to a cousin who accuses him of being “soft” because of his friendships with girls, and Charlotte, who is Black, does a bit of friendship “matchma

A HAUNTING ON THE HILL

Looking to escape New York City in the wake of the pandemic, Holly Sherwin and her partner, Nisa Macari, enjoy exploring charming “little towns long since colonized by self-styled artists and artisans.” Holly, once a promising playwright, is now teaching English at a private school but has recently won a grant to produce the witchy play that may just revive her career. When she stumbles upon a creepy old mansion on an isolated hill, she knows she’s found the perfect place to hole up with the sm

THE BROKE HEARTS

A year has passed since Danny Villanueva and JD Sanchez’s best friend, Juan, was shot and killed by police. Danny is struggling in his first semester of college, while JD, a new Air Force recruit, is 10 days from deployment. The people around them have moved on, but JD and Danny continue to feel angry and unmoored. When JD turns 19, he drives back to El Paso to celebrate with Danny, but Danny’s father has suddenly been hospitalized due to a heart condition. Between visits with his father, Danny

MICROJOYS

Spiegel, an author and inspirational speaker, writes from experience on how to balance moments of grief and hardship with sparks of joy. The author shares the pain of her grandparents’ deaths, losing a classmate to tragedy, and friends she grew up with dying from AIDS. Death and loss are unavoidable, of course, but Spiegel is insistent that we should grow from tragedy and rediscover joy. Microjoys “often emerge from the muck” of despair, heartbreak, and personal chaos, and discovering them has

RESCUE

Charlie Campbell, almost 13, is unhappy that his father will be moving out. Even soccer doesn’t feel like fun anymore. But Charlie adores dogs and dreams of becoming a veterinarian, plus he wants to avoid being at home listening to Mom and Dad arguing. So, he begs Dad’s friend Dr. Anderton to take him on as an after-school volunteer at his veterinary clinic. Charlie enjoys most aspects of the experience, but the highlight is meeting elderly chocolate Lab Buster, a retired service dog with hip p

CALL ME CALVIN

Calvin, who, like his parents, has brown skin and dark hair, is upset by all that he cannot do. Though his father has always affectionately called him Little Man, he isn’t big, tall, or strong enough to do what he wants, like reaching the counter. Frustrated, Calvin imagines himself tall enough to make a slam dunk. He envisions himself as a huge tree that towers over the others. And he fantasizes about being a strong storm cloud that wreaks havoc outside of his house. Afraid of this new strengt

BEING BRAVE

This board book tackles childhood situations such as feeling left out, becoming angry with someone, or feeling different from everyone else. In each scenario, Jin offers a useful suggestion that begins with being brave starts with…. “When you’re feeling anxious or worried, being brave starts with…taking one deep breath,” the text explains, while the accompanying illustrations show a little bear appearing nervous about jumping into the water before doing a cannonball. Notably, Jin not only ident

THE PURPLE PRESIDENCY 2024

The author observes that, contrary to popular belief, the ideological polarization that currently beleaguers the United States is not the historical norm; in fact, following World War II, the country leapt “from strength to strength,” and, despite genuine political disagreement, reasonable compromises and consensus among citizens were concretely brokered. However, this is no longer the case—today, the least temperate members of the citizenry elect the least moderate politicians, and deeply divi

THE GALACTIC ZOOKEEPER'S GUIDE TO HEISTS AND HUSBANDRY

The author’s debut novels’ title echoes The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but the prose is far more astringent, taking the form of the profanity-filled first-person narration of fiery redhead anti-hero Saffron Savage, an unhappy daughter of “hippie” parents in the far future, whose idealism inspired her to earn a fairly worthless “xeno-zoology” degree. Shouldering student-loan debt, Saffron spends eight years languishing in a lousy job on the tourist-trap zoo planet Hialeah. As one of the f

INDEPENDENCE SQUARE

An acquaintance asks Renko to find his adult daughter Karina Abakova, who has “disappeared down a rabbit hole,” and Renko says he will search for her for no pay. Karina’s interests are music and politics, specifically the anti-government Forum for Democracy. The latter passion seems unwise, as “politics in Russia was for the corrupt, the brave, and the foolish.” Then an acquaintance of Renko’s is killed before they can meet, and the detective is assigned to find the man’s killer. Maybe a connec

TINY FOX AND GREAT BOAR

While exploring the forests and meadows, friends Tiny Fox and Great Boar meet and befriend a nymph who is looking forward to growing her wings. The next day the little bug gets her wish and flies off immediately, leaving Fox and Boar behind. Fox is miffed, but all is forgotten when the mayfly returns and immediately dies. Distraught, Fox runs from the shadow of sadness now chasing him. It’s only when Boar finds him and the two are able to talk about their feelings and the mayfly they loved that

THIS IS NOT MY STORY

As the book opens, a brown-skinned boy is flying a spaceship, surrounded by green aliens in their own spacecrafts, but announces to the unseen author/narrator that this is the wrong story for him (“I definitely don’t believe in aliens”). The boy ends up on a blank white page, looking startled, while the narrator considers other potential roles for him, such as Cattle King Carl, “quickest wrangler in the West,” a dragon-slaying knight, the victim of a Transylvanian vampire, and a plant in a scie

LEVINSON OF HARVARD

As the story opens in 2008, Philadelphia-based Mark Levinson is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, attending his 35th class reunion at Harvard. At the festivities, he meets Becca Wyatt, with whom he'd once had a brief but passionate fling. Their own personal reunion is an uncomfortable one, and she leaves him with a mysterious package that dovetails with his own project to chronicle his family history: Despite family lore, it turns out there’s no record of Mark's grandfather Michael Levinson ever hav