THE SCANDALOUS CONFESSIONS OF LYDIA BENNET, WITCH

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter must be a witch.” Enter Lydia Bennet, the youngest of the Bennet sisters. Anyone who has read the source material will insist that Lydia is the fifth daughter and thus the maxim shouldn’t apply. But they are not factoring in the three eldest sisters who died shortly after birth. Nor are they aware that Kitty, the second-youngest sister, doesn’t count since she’s a cat Lydia hexed into girlhood without her fa

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 MEXICAN DREIDEL

Danielito loves Janucá (Hanukkah), and tonight, he and his Bobe will light the first candles. Danielito doesn’t know any of the kids in his grandmother’s neighborhood, but when he sees them playing trompos (tops) in the street, he asks Bobe if she has one. “No,” she tells him. “But I have a dreidel!” The local kids let Danielito join in, and when his dreidel is the last top spinning, something magical happens. Each fallen trompo the dreidel touches starts spinning again, and soon the dreidel is

MURDERS OF A FEATHER

As Valentine’s Day approaches, Dr. Kate Turner is a little bummed that the only Cupid in her life is a Doberman with a bladder infection. But she’s typically too slammed with work for much of a love life, especially since she’s been filling in at the Hudson Valley’s Oak Falls Animal Hospital while Doc Anderson is on a yearlong cruise. Though she’s been happy in Oak Falls, it’s hard for Kate to know what’s next in life. She doesn’t have much going on in the romance department, but she does have

I'VE BEEN THINKING

Dennett (b. 1942) opens on the day he felt chest pain from the dissection of his aortic artery. Following a nine-hour surgery, he is now “the proud possessor of a new aorta.” This happened in 2006, seven years after a catastrophic heart attack required triple-bypass surgery. Although Dennett is widely known for his cheerful atheism, this is predominantly an autobiography and so entertaining that even devout readers of faith should skim the few parts they may find objectionable. From a very earl

THE RISING ORDER

An abandoned, alienated, hate-filled delinquent has a chance encounter with Flynn, a pretty waitress, who becomes the first person to ever show him kindness and respect. Ten years later, Flynn is a recruiter for the prominent Chicago-based telecommunications and technology giant Magnetic. Despite her successful and attractive exterior, Flynn empathizes with outcasts and misfits while remaining aloof to the starchy corporate organization men who insistently hit on her. Forced into an outing at W

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

PLOOF

This interactive picture book directly addresses children, encouraging participation with Ploof. When Ploof is feeling shy, readers are told to clap for encouragement. Similarly, when the cloud “runs…out of steam,” readers are asked to “blow softly on Ploof” to “puff Ploof back up.” The illustrations are simple and clear. For the most part, the recto of each spread includes text set against a white background, while the verso depicts the cloud against a soft, sky-blue background—an effect that

THE HEXOLOGISTS

When the royal secretary interrupts the Wilbies’ teatime because the king is asking to be baked alive into a cake, it’s just a normal day for the magical investigators. It seems a blackmailer’s claim of an illegitimate heir is driving the king mad. Iz wants nothing to do with royalty, but Warren reminds her that an unrecognized heir creates a power vacuum, which means Luthland's vulnerable will suffer all the more. When a forest golem breaks down the cellar door and heads straight for the royal

PENANCE

True crime has become such a ubiquitous genre over the last 10 years—through podcasts, television, and nonfiction books—that it’s now fodder for fiction. Clark, who was recently named to the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta, approaches the genre with both a critical eye and an instinct for the lurid. The novel is framed as a nonfiction account of the brutal murder of a teenage girl by three of her classmates, written by disgraced tabloid reporter Alec Z. Carelli, who has unethically ti

MURDER IN AN ITALIAN VILLAGE

To the Positanesi, Bria Bartolucci, who grew up in neighboring Ravello, might as well have been from Australia. But when her husband, Carlo, announced he was buying a bed-and-breakfast in the seaside town, Bria was swept up in his enthusiasm for the unexpected but welcome adventure. Now, a year later, Bria’s on the verge of unveiling Bella Bella, although without Carlo, who was killed in a plane crash. Her determination to open despite her loss is a tribute to her love for Carlo and her desire

PILIPINTO

The author was born in the Amazon in 1955 to American evangelical missionary parents Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, whose lives she detailed in her previous book, Devotedly (2019). This memoir for children details her time as a child in Ecuador, which included a family tragedy when she was still an infant. Shepard tells the story in the third person, narrating the first several years of her life. Her parents mainly worked with the Quechua people, but they were intrigued by the Waoroni people, who ha

DEAR ELSA

When Leo, a Toronto boy in grade 5, is randomly assigned by his teacher to correspond with Elsa, a Boston fifth grader, he’s annoyed. Not only must he write to a girl, but each letter must be at least 250 words long. He expresses his feelings in a haiku appended to one letter: “THIS IS REALLY DUMB (5) / I COULD BE PLAYING OUTSIDE (7) / LIKE I SAID IT’S DUMB (5).” Leo is dealing with a lot: His family’s move from Montreal has been a rough adjustment, he feels excluded at school, and he cycles ho

DESSERT WITH BUDDHA

Retired Otto Ringling has just sold his home in Bronxville, New York. He’s flush with cash and has plans to move back to his home state of North Dakota. The property Otto grew up on has been turned into a meditation center through his sister’s efforts. Otto looks forward to living there in its supportive environment, even if he hopes to spend his winters elsewhere. But what should he do with the proceeds from the sale of his home? Otto’s wife is long deceased, his kids are able to support thems

HOLLOW BEASTS

After her husband dies in a climbing accident, Officer Jodi Luna decides to leave Boston and her life in the academy to return to her familial roots. She even arranges to take her uncle Eloy Atencio’s position as Rio Truchas County’s game warden as he prepares to retire. Jodi is idealistic and proud to be working in an area that’s meant so much to her family. Though Eloy is jaded about the land and its inhabitants, Jodi’s surprised when one of the first guys she pulls over tries to give her a h

THE FIREWEED MOON

Ohioan Leon Ziemny knows “things could flip on a nickel,” and in this series entry, things certainly do: Leon’s childhood home back in Langston, Indiana, is on a list of buildings to be demolished. His middle-aged daughter, Willow, unexpectedly shows up in his current hometown of Weeping Willow, Ohio, just after someone else wanders into town asking about her. Leon’s first wife, Noël Trudeau, died giving birth to Willow in this quiet town, which was known as just Willow back then. Tragedy haunt

ALL THAT GLISTERS

Thaddeus Hanlon, a former professional surfer who is a forensic accountant with a top CPA firm, Dodge Whitney; his wife, Marrisa; and close friend Abril “Bri” de la Guerra are enjoying a luxe annual corporate celebration. They are awaiting the return of Rafael “Rafi” Silva, Bri’s fiance and Thad’s best buddy, from Washington, D.C., where he has been working on a special project for Dodge Whitney. Instead, they receive a devastating phone call from Jenny Yu, Rafi’s Washington audit associate. It

TEE TIME ON THE MOON

The 1971 Apollo 14 mission, the third to land on the moon, had tasks and experiments aplenty lined up, but, as they say, all work and no play…. So along the way, Alan Shepard Jr. pulled two golf balls out of one of his spacesuit pockets, attached a golf club head (a 6-iron, for the curious) to the rock scoop used to collect samples, and let fly. As moon suits of the day didn’t allow him to look down at his feet, it didn’t go well, but he did get one solid whack…which, according to a measurement

UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

Nancherla says that she wanted to write a book about impostor syndrome—which she defines as constantly questioning whether or not she deserves her own success—because she wanted to get over feeling like a fraud. Unfortunately, she confesses, “it turns out nothing summons your impostor syndrome like trying to write a book about it.” In the chapters that follow, Nancherla traces her mental health history, which includes an anecdote about competing in a Miss India DC pageant while battling an eati

LICENSE TO DIE

James Flynn is a patient at the City of Roses Psychiatric Institute in Pasadena, California, and has been for more than 20 years; he is utterly convinced he is a “super spy with a license to kill” and that the mental hospital that houses him is the headquarters of His Majesty’s Secret Service. Despite his condition, he has a penchant for thwarting evil plots that threaten the world, a bizarre and hilarious habit that will be familiar to readers of this extravagantly comedic series. James is une