Lessons I Never Learned at Meadowbrook Academy by Liz Maccie

The most important lessons aren't learned in the classroom.
 
It’s the first day of sophomore year for Roberta Romano, but instead of the comfort of her local high school, she's been thrust into the elitist embrace of the affluent Meadowbrook Academy.
 
Surrounded by wealth, Roberta battles her own insecurities to prove her worth and maybe land the boy of her dreams. With the help of two unlikely allies—and an inflatable toy raft—Roberta embarks upon a journey of dark secrets and self-discovery to learn the true meaning of friendship and acceptance. 

Pages: 193
Publisher: Diversion Books (November 4, 2014)

The New Colossus by Marshall Goldberg

GREED. CORRUPTION. MURDER. NEW YORK IN 1880 IS A HELL OF A PLACE TO MAKE YOUR LIVING.

Nellie Bly arrives at age 24 in Manhattan, lacking connections and money, but blessed with an abundance of courage and a skill for reportage. Within ten months she lands two front- page stories on the country's most widely-read newspaper, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World.

The pugnacious and voluble Pulitzer is so impressed that he assigns her to get to the bottom of a murder that has confounded the police-the untimely death of his friend Emma Lazarus, the controversial poet and activist. Her investigation leads to tense encounters with some of the most powerful and ruthless men of the time, in an era where elected officials are bought and sold, and where greed runs rampant on an unregulated Wall Street. Outgunned and ignoring her contemptuous all-male colleagues, Bly has only two real allies: a doctor who uses scientific techniques to establish criminal behavior, and a theater critic with unlimited access to underground New York. As the pieces fall into place Bly uncovers layer after layer of corruption, getting closer to a dangerous core-and to the truth.

Pages: 300 pages
Publisher: Diversion Books (March 25, 2014)

Stranger On the Shore by Josh Lanyon

Twenty years ago, little Brian Arlington was kidnapped from his family's Long Island estate and was never seen again. The trail went cold, but investigative journalist Griff Hadley has always thought there was more to the story—much more. When the Arlingtons' patriarch invites him to stay at their estate to research his true crime book, Griff can't say no. It's the story of a lifetime.

But not everyone is happy about Griff's presence. Relatives and staff alike regard him coldly, including Pierce Mather, the Arlingtons' attractive lawyer, who is more than a little wary of Griff's motives.

When a stranger shows up claiming to be the long-lost Brian, Griff and Pierce are united in their suspicions. Startled to have found an ally in the buttoned-up lawyer, Griff soon realizes it's hard to keep a professional distance. Even in the midst of a groundbreaking investigation, even in the face of a shocking family secret….

Pages: 236
Publisher: Carina Press (May 5, 2014)

Finish What We Started by Amylynn Bright

Five years ago, Lee Bennett's whirlwind romance with Candace Claesson ended as abruptly as it had begun, and just when he needed her the most. Since then, Lee's built a successful construction company and a satisfying, if solitary, life. When he's hired to build Candace's new veterinary clinic, Lee finds her as irresistible as ever--but he's never forgiven her and he's sure as hell not letting her break his heart again.

For years, Candace has wrestled with regret and guilt over leaving Lee. At the time, nothing was going to stop her from achieving her dreams of studying in Scotland and becoming a vet--not even young love. They'd been inseparable for six months, but anything that intense couldn't last. Or so she thought.

Reunited in their hometown, neither Lee nor Candace can resist picking up where they left off. But with so much from the past standing between them, how they can rebuild what they started so long ago?

Pages: 179
Publisher: Carina Press (December 15, 2014)

Watch Me Go by Mark Wisniewski

Winter’s Bone meets The Wire, Watch Me Go is an edgy, soulful meditation on the meaning of love, the injustices of hate, and the power of hope

Douglas “Deesh” Sharp has managed to stay out of trouble living in the Bronx, paying his rent by hauling junk for cash. But on the morning Deesh and two pals head upstate to dispose of a sealed oil drum whose contents smell and weigh enough to contain a human corpse, he becomes mixed up in a serious crime. When his plans for escape spiral terribly out of control, Deesh quickly finds himself a victim of betrayal—and the prime suspect in the murders of three white men. 

When Jan, a young jockey from the gritty underworld of the Finger Lakes racetrack breaks her silence about gambling and organized crime, Deesh learns how the story of her past might, against all odds, free him from a life behind bars.

Interweaving Deesh’s and Jan’s gripping narratives, Watch Me Go is a wonderfully insightful work that examines how we love, leave, lose, redeem, and strive for justice. At once compulsively readable, thought-provoking, and complex, it is a suspenseful, compassionate meditation on the power of love and the injustices of hate.  

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (January 22, 2015)

If I Knew You Were Going To Be Beautiful by Judy Chicurel

It is the summer of 1972, and Katie has just turned eighteen. Katie and her town, Elephant Beach, are both on the verge: Katie of adulthood, and Elephant Beach of gentrification. But not yet: Elephant Beach is still gritty, working-class, close-knit. And Katie spends her time smoking and drinking with her friends, dreaming about a boy just back from Vietnam who’s still fighting a battle Katie can’t understand. 

In this poignant, evocative debut collection, Judy Chicurel creates a haunting, vivid world, where conflicts between mothers and daughters, men and women, soldiers and civilians and haves and have-nots reverberate to our own time. She captures not only a time and place, but the universal experience of being poised between the past and the future. At once heartbreaking, mesmerizing, and nostalgic, Chicurel shows us that no matter how beautiful some dreams are, there comes a time when we must let them go.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Berkley (September 1, 2015)

A Religion of One's Own by Thomas Moore

The New York Times bestselling author and trusted spiritual adviser offers a follow-up to his classic Care of the Soul. 
 
Something essential is missing from modern life. Many who’ve turned away from religious institutions—and others who have lived wholly without religion—hunger for more than what contemporary secular life has to offer but are reluctant to follow organized religion’s strict and often inflexible path to spirituality. In A Religion of One’s Own, bestselling author and former monk Thomas Moore explores the myriad possibilities of creating a personal spiritual style, either inside or outside formal religion.
 
Two decades ago, Moore’s Care of the Soul touched a chord with millions of readers yearning to integrate spirituality into their everyday lives. In A Religion of One’s Own, Moore expands on the topics he first explored shortly after leaving the monastery. He recounts the benefits of contemplative living that he learned during his twelve years as a monk but also the more original and imaginative spirituality that he later developed and embraced in his secular life. Here, he shares stories of others who are creating their own path: a former football player now on a spiritual quest with the Pueblo Indians, a friend who makes a meditative practice of floral arrangements, and a well-known classical pianist whose audiences sometimes describe having a mystical experience while listening to her performances. Moore weaves their experiences with the wisdom of philosophers, writers, and artists who have rejected materialism and infused their secular lives with transcendence.
 
At a time when so many feel disillusioned with or detached from organized religion yet long for a way to move beyond an exclusively materialistic, rational lifestyle, A Religion of One’s Own points the way to creating an amplified inner life and a world of greater purpose, meaning, and reflection.

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Gotham (January 6, 2015)

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake Nelson

Robert "'Cali" Callahan is a teen runaway, living on the streets of Venice Beach, California. He's got a pretty sweet life: a treehouse to sleep in, a gang of surf bros, a regular basketball game...even a girl who's maybe-sorta interested in him.

What he doesn't have is a plan.

All that changes when a local cop refers Cali to a private investigator who is looking for a missing teenager. After all, Cali knows everyone in Venice. But the streets are filled with people who don't want to be found, and when he's hired to find the beautiful Reese Abernathy—who would do anything to stay hidden—Cali enters a new world filled with mysterious characters, dangerous choices, and his first chance at real love.

Pages: 240
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (June 3, 2014)

Married for Amari's Heir by Maisey Yates

She will share his bed… 

It may have been Charity Wyatt's father who stole from mogul Rocco Amari, but it's Charity who will pay the price of Rocco's vengeance. 

Carry his heir… 

Relinquishing her virginity should have covered Charity's debt, but her one white-hot night with the enigmatic Italian has unexpected consequences. 

And be his wife! 

Determined her baby will have a better childhood than she did, Charity asks Rocco for financial help. But Rocco has bigger plans in mind: to legitimize his heir by making Charity his wife! 

When one night…leads to pregnancy!

Series: One Night With Consequences (Book 3346)
Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Harlequin (June 16, 2015)

Montana Darling by Debra Salonen

Mia Zabrinski's lost enough-- her marriage. Her job. Her body image. Mia is ready to rebuild her life in her hometown of Marietta,Montana, and she's damned if she'll let some stranger camp on her land and claim squatter's rights.

Ryker Bensen doesn't have much-- and that suits him fine. Less than a year ago, he had everything: a beautiful girlfriend, a baby on the way, a career that earned him fame and a very comfortable living...until he didn't. When beautiful Mia shows up and orders him off what she says is her land, Ryker realizes she might be the spark he needed to jumpstart his interest in living again.

182 pages
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group (January 7, 2015)