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People Who Knew Me

Kim Hooper

Emily Morris got her happily-ever-after earlier than most. Married at a young age to a man she loved passionately, she was building the life she always wanted. But when enormous stress threatened her marriage, Emily made some rash decisions. That’s when she fell in love with someone else. That’s when she got pregnant.

Resolved to tell her husband of the affair and to leave him for the father of her child, Emily’s plans are thwarted when the world is suddenly split open on 9/11. It’s amid terrible tragedy that she finds her freedom, as she leaves New York City to start a new life. It’s not easy, but Emily—now Connie Prynne―forges a new happily-ever-after in California. But when a life-threatening diagnosis upends her life, she is forced to rethink her life for the good of her thirteen-year-old daughter.

A riveting debut in which a woman must confront her own past in order to secure the future of her daughter, Kim Hooper's People Who Knew Me asks: “What would you do?”

Constantine at the Bridge

Stephen Dando-Collins

"A marvelous book. Constantine at the Bridge is an engaging and beautifully written study of a pivotal moment in Roman and European history." —Mark Felton, author of Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini's Colditz

The AD 312 Battle of the Milvian Bridge, just outside Rome, marked the start of a monumental change for Rome and her empire. This battle was the figurative bridge between old pagan Rome and new Christian Rome. And once Constantine had crossed that bridge, there was no turning back.

Constantine the Great, after winning this battle against his brother-in-law Maxentius and taking power at Rome, and strongly influenced by his mother, forcefully steered Romans away from the traditional worship of their classical gods toward Christianity, setting Rome on two paths – the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and the relegation of the city of Rome to obscurity as the Western Roman Empire collapsed within 175 years.

The book’s title characterizes its narrative thrust – this battle was the figurative bridge between old pagan Rome and new Christian Rome. And once Constantine had crossed that bridge, there was no turning back.

The Devil Hath a Pleasing Shape

Terry Roberts

Walk the dark halls and threatening streets of 1920s Asheville in this thrilling third installment of The Stephen Robbins Chronicles, as fan-favorite Robbins confronts the dangerous contrast between appearance and reality at the exclusive Grove Park Inn.

It’s the autumn of 1924, and Benjamin Loftis has a problem. A college girl is discovered—naked and dead—in one of the finest rooms of his beloved Grove Park Inn. To prevent the sullied reputation of this jewel in the crown of North Carolina and all the Southern mountains, Loftis calls in Stephen Robbins, a local man famous in some circles for finding missing people and solving unsolvable crimes.

Robbins, now scarred and battered by life’s wars, would rather retreat from the world than dive headfirst into a new mystery. But he agrees to help and is quickly swept into the social hierarchy of Asheville’s complex and harshly stratified society, running head-on into the financial and political elite who control this mountain town—those who want a murderer caught but not necessarily the murderer.

With so many socialites focused on reputation over truth, will Robbins be able to find the devil walking among them and bring them to justice? Find out in The Devil Hath a Pleasing Shape, a thrilling noir set against the backdrop of the jazz age in America.

My Mistress’ Eyes are Raven Black

Terry Roberts

2022 Thriller Awards Finalist

"Terry Roberts' new novel is a literary thriller of the highest order: lyrical and suspenseful, with characters you will long remember. This is a heart-pounding, timely, and completely immersive read. It's also Roberts' finest hour." –Silas House, author of Southernmost

Ellis Island, 1920. New York Harbor's immigration and public health authorities are slowly recovering from the war years when a young, pregnant Irish woman disappears from the Isolation Hospital on Ellis Island.

Stephen Robbins, a specialist in finding missing persons, is assigned the case. Yet when he arrives at the isolation hospital, he discovers an inexplicable string of deaths and disappearances among immigrant patients...and a staff that seems to be hiding a chilling secret. Stephen finds an ally in Lucy Paul, an undercover nurse who is also investigating the mysterious incidents. Together, they begin to unearth a horrifying conspiracy masked beneath the hospital's charitable exterior. As Stephen and Lucy get closer to the truth and each other, they are swept directly into the danger haunting Ellis Island and become the next targets.

Amidst growing racial tensions in the wake of World War I, My Mistress’ Eyes are Raven Black explores the disturbing lengths to which people will go to protect racial purity and condemn those they fear.

All the Ways We Lied

Aida Zilelian

Set in Queens, New York, meet the Manoukians—a dysfunctional Armenian family and the fraying rope that binds them. While a father deteriorates from terminal illness, three sisters contend with one another, their self-destructive pasts, and their indomitable mother as they face the loss of the one person holding their unstable family together.

Kohar, the oldest sister, is happily married, yet grapples with fertility issues and, in turn, her own self-worth. Lucine, the middle child, is trapped in a loveless marriage and haunted by memories of her estranged father. Azad, the beloved youngest child, is burdened by an inescapable cycle of failed relationships.

By turns heartfelt and heart wrenching, All the Ways We Lied introduces a cast of tragically flawed but lovable characters on the brink of unraveling. With humor and compassion, this spellbinding tale explores the fraught and contradictory landscape of sisterhood, introducing four unforgettable women who have nothing in common, and are bound by blood and history.

Mental Fitness

Shawn Talbott

"An important read for anybody who is sick of covering up the underlying problems with medications and explore non-pharmaceutical solutions." –Emeran A. Mayer, MD, Distinguished Professor at UCLA and author of The Mind Gut Connection and The Gut-Immune Connection

Achieve a balanced mood, clear thinking, and abundant energy through transformative methods based on groundbreaking research on the gut-heart-brain-axis.

Depression, anxiety, and burnout are the plague of modern times. Mental wellness issues afflict millions of people worldwide and account for billions of dollars spent on pharmaceuticals and “feel better” products. Unfortunately, most of these solutions make us feel “different” but not really “better”–and certainly not how we want to feel. Nurturing the Brain-Body-Biome is the superhighway to improve physical energy, mental acuity, and emotional well-being through nutrition, movement, and mindset.

Written by expert Psychonutritionist Dr. Shawn Talbott―a nutritional biochemist who has dedicated years of research and a dozen books to the study of nutritional psychology―Mental Fitness provides a clear, actionable path to optimize the connection across the Brain-Body-Biome and feel better naturally.

No Hiding in Boise

Kim Hooper

"With this novel, Kim Hooper has created magic from the seemingly impossible. In her hands, the gossamer threads that tie three perfect strangers to each other following a shared tragedy, become nothing less than a transformative bond of human connection. Honest, brave, messy and unsparing, her characters are fearless pioneers in the darkness, and ultimately shed light for us on the most precious gift of all…life after loss." –Brad Silberling, Writer/Director of Moonlight Mile, Director of City of Angels 

When Angie is awakened by a midnight call from an officer with the Boise Police Department, she thinks there must be a misunderstanding. The officer tells her that her husband was involved in a shooting at a local bar, but how can that be possible when her husband is sleeping right next to her? Except when she turns to wake him, he isn’t there.

Tessa is the twenty-three-year-old bartender who escapes to a backroom storage closet during the shooting. When it comes to light that five people were killed, she is burdened with the question of why she survived.

Joyce wakes up to a knock at her front door, a knock she assumes is her wayward son, Jed, who must have lost his keys. It’s not Jed, though. Two police officers tell her that Jed is dead, shot at the bar. Then they deliver even worse news: “We have reason to believe your son was the shooter.”

So begins the story of three women tied together by tragic fate―a wife trying to understand why her now-comatose husband was frequenting a bar in the middle of the night, the young woman who her husband was apparently pursuing, and a mother who is forced to confront the reality of who her son was and who she is.

Conquering Jerusalem

Stephen Dando-Collins

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR AND HISTORIAN STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS PROVIDES UNPARALLELED NEW INSIGHT INTO THE FIRST JEWISH REVOLT

Dando-Collins details the conflict from both sides of the 7-year campaign. His examination of the revolt draws upon numerous archaeological and forensic discoveries made in recent years to illuminate the people and events as never before.

Neither side emerges from the conflict unscathed. Both were at times equally heroic and barbaric. In the end, the Jewish freedom fighters lost the war and lost Jerusalem, their holy city– the focus of the campaign by both sides. Yet today, Jerusalem is once more the heart of the Jewish faith, while, thanks to Christianity–an offshoot of Judaism–the Roman Empire and its gods are long gone.

Conquering Jerusalem illustrates that faith can have its rewards, and the tables can be turned, if you wait long enough.

To Dust You Shall Return

Fred Venturini

"Venturini doesn't write in words and sentences. Instead, he lines the page with barbwire, concertina wire and spike strips that deliver the story deep into the reader's skin." –#1 New York Times Bestselling Author Chuck Palahniuk

A town ruled by evil. A man ruled by darkness. Only one can survive.

Curtis Quinn is a Chicago mob legend with a particular set of skills and a price on his head. When the woman he loves disappears, Curtis follows her trail to the occult town of Harlow, where no one is allowed to leave, and an enigmatic, sinister overlord known only as “the Mayor” rules by an autocratic regime.

Beth Jarvis is a plucky teenager unwrapping the secrets of her hometown―Harlow―and the mysterious ceremony that awaits her on her eighteenth birthday. What Beth doesn’t know is the truth about her sister Kate, who escaped their strange town over a decade ago and has evaded the Mayor and his disciples ever since.

What Curtis doesn’t know is that Kate is the woman he’s fallen in love with, and she’s running from a threat far greater than the mobsters who want to kill him. His fate collides with Beth’s as she tries to escape Harlow and the disgusting fate that awaits her, and Curtis finds himself unraveling a mystery that leads to an impossible and terrifying conclusion―that the Mayor of Harlow is more than just a man, and the hardest target he’s ever tried to kill.

One Stupid Thing

Stewart Lewis

“Like The Breakfast Club set during a New England summer...One Stupid Thing captures the nuances of power and self-doubt that shape the lives of today’s text-obsessed youth." ―Foreword Reviews

It was just one stupid thing that happened…

Summer on Nantucket Island. Three high school friends drinking warm beer on a rooftop. Everything is cool until a seemingly innocent game takes a sinister turn, and the course of their lives is changed forever.

For a year, they keep it a secret, until the following summer when they meet a mysterious girl with her own dark past who may have the answers they are looking for.

A story about friendship, mistakes, and the quest for redemption, One Stupid Thing follows Jamie, Sophia, Trevor, and Violet as they contend with the consequences of their choices, navigate the drama in their individual lives and try to uncover what really happened on that fateful night.

Paradise, WV

Rob Rufus

In a poor West Virginia town decimated by the opioid epidemic, teenagers Henry and Jane have it worse than most. Their father is Hollis Lusher, a convicted serial killer known as “the Blind Spot Slasher.”

Despite being bullied and ostracized, the siblings maintain their father’s innocence. But now, a popular true-crime podcast is coming to town, and their presence turns all eyes to the Blind Spot Slasher’s case . . . and Henry and Jane.

Meanwhile, an eager young officer, Lieutenant Elena Garcia, is put on the case of a missing girl. Despite warnings from her superiors, Garcia begins to dig deeper into the case and realizes there may be other mysteries buried in the flood of opioid-related crimes. With many deaths quickly labeled as overdoses, or “No Human Involved,” she fears the drug epidemic has created the perfect storm for a Blind Spot Slasher copycat to thrive. Unless that is, they never caught the real Blind Spot Slasher.

An amateur private investigator is also on the case: Henry’s new friend, Otis. A home-schooled genius with his own family issues and a suspicion their father might be innocent, Otis makes it his mission to help Henry and Jane find the real killer. As the three probe into the evidence, they discover a possible connection between the killings and a doomsday, snake-handling cult—propelling them all down the dark backroads of Appalachia to find justice for Hollis and themselves.

Cherry Blossoms

Kim Hooper

From the author of the critically-acclaimed debut People Who Knew Me comes the story of one man’s determination to abandon his will to live.

Jonathan Krause is a man with a plan. He is going to quit his advertising job and, when his money runs out, he is going to die. He just has one final mission: A trip to Japan. It’s a trip he was supposed to take with his girlfriend, Sara. It’s a trip inspired by his regrets. And it’s a trip to pay homage to the Japanese, the inventors of his chosen suicide technique.

In preparation for his final voyage, Jonathan enrolls in a Japanese language class where he meets Riko, who has her own plans to visit her homeland, for very different reasons. Their unexpected and unusual friendship takes them to Japan together, where they each struggle to make peace with their past and accept that happiness, loneliness, and grief come and go―just like the cherry blossoms.

Haunted by lost love, Jonathan must decide if he can embrace the transient nature of life, or if he must choose the certainty of death.