Best friends can bring joy, inspiration, and encouragement. But in this riveting short story, when a friendship starts to crumble, that breakup devastates as much as—or more than—one from a romantic entanglement. It’s an extraordinary connection that New York Times bestselling author Jane Green brings to life in this story of what it takes to sustain a friendship or learn to let it go.

Lucy Brearley is newly divorced and finding her feet in a world that feels entirely strange. She’s not quite ready to jump into the dating scene, but knowing that she needs to put herself out there, she nonetheless finds herself at a bar mixing it up. Not expecting much to come of it, she’s surprised when she strikes up an easy conversation with a woman who, in a short space of time, feels like a lifelong best friend. Their instant connection is the encouragement Lucy needs to fully embrace this new stage in life…until her new friend’s jealousy makes her realize that this is not the forever friendship she thought she had.

Author, influencer, and advice columnist Jane Green writes about women and relationships with warmth and wisdom that feel real and close to home. She captures the bright moments of a seemingly beautiful and restorative friendship—ones that make it almost impossible to see red flags, how wrong that friendship can go, and, ultimately, how much stronger Lucy becomes once she realizes her own strength.

—Selena James, Editor

New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster is back with a novel that is so full of laughs and pure affection, it had me hitting speed dial to summon my best friend for an epic hype session.

This brash, hilarious, and heartfelt novel introduces an iconic friend duo, Emily and Liv, who desperately need to bust out of a rut. Though they each know they can offer so much more than the world gives them credit for, it takes witnessing a coffee shop robbery to shake them into action. Joined by a hilarious group of fellow timid bystanders, they each begin personal quests to gain power and control over their half-lived lives and pursue their dreams. With real tenderness and gusto, they support one another as they push past their fears and harness their authority.

It’s perfect reading for anyone who has felt listless and is just waiting for an excuse to start living life like they mean it. A joy to read from start to finish, Jen Lancaster had me cheering for Emily and Liv—and wondering what my life might look like if I let go of fear and started kicking butt!

—Laura Van der Veer, Editor

In The Elias Network, Caspian Anderson hides in plain sight as a mild-mannered UN translator. No one would ever suspect him to work for a shadowy black-ops outfit—not even his girlfriend. Although, truth be told, Caspian isn’t sure Liesel even really is his girlfriend. They’ve never made it official official.

While Caspian lives a double life, he never once considered that Liesel also might be hiding in plain sight. This is the hook of bestselling Simon Gervais’s exciting new espionage thriller series, where The Jackal meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Gervais is a master storyteller—especially when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, military operations, and covert missions. His action scenes practically jump right off the page, transporting the reader to an IMAX theater. I tore through the pages of this explosive page-turner and couldn’t help but cheer on Liesel and Caspian, wondering all along: Will they survive long enough to fall truly in love?

—Liz Pearsons, Editor

What if you could suddenly start texting with someone from the past?

It’s a question I asked myself as I soaked in this intriguing story about Aleeza, a college freshman settling in to her dorm room, who stumbles into a mystery when she discovers she can text the former resident of her room, Jay. The problem is that he’s been missing for months. That doesn’t stop Jay and Aleeza from continuing to chat from seemingly parallel universes, but things get complicated when Aleeza starts to have feelings for him.

Farah Heron’s novel reminds me of a college version of the film The Lake House, with a romance that has you guessing if—or how—the two will ever meet in real life. I turned the pages to get to the bottom of the mystery of Jay’s disappearance, but the sweet romance that develops via text messages made me want to read it again and again.

—Carmen Johnson, Editor

I love a good World War II novel, especially when it’s told from a uniquely fresh perspective. By now, we all know about the famed scientists who were sent to Los Alamos in the 1940s to develop the world’s first nuclear weapon (hello, Oppenheimer), but have you ever wondered about their wives and children, who left behind dreams and any sense of familiarity to start a new, clandestine life in the desert?

Christine is a New York City art restorer. She meets Gertie, the teenage daughter of German Jewish refugees, when Christine’s husband and the girl’s father are both recruited to work on a secret “gadget” at an isolated desert base. Christine’s loneliness grows as she tries to reinvent herself, and Gertie faces the peaks and valleys of teenagerhood in an unfamiliar place. As they inadvertently (or not) weave a web of secrets of their own, tension mounts and threatens the makeshift lives they’ve had to rebuild in this remote outpost.

Galina Vromen’s debut novel imagines what life might have looked like for a cast of superbly developed characters, all of whom are united by the emotional complexity of this moment in time. The result is a searing portrait about life, love, and pain that will stay with readers well beyond the last page.

—Alexandra Torrealba, Editor

For most of us, memories of childhood are hazy like a faded Polaroid photo. I don’t remember how old I was when I rolled through poison ivy in my grandparents’ backyard, but I remember the intense itch of the rash and the smell of the tomato soup bath that followed. But for psychologist Arles Shepherd, the protagonist of award-winning author Jenny Milchman’s series starter The Usual Silence, a literal faded Polaroid may hold the key to her past.

There’s so much Arles can’t remember about her own childhood. It’s part of what drew her to her profession of caring for troubled children. Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to set up a treatment center on her childhood estate in the remote Adirondack wilderness, but something about this feels, dare she say, predestined?

Meanwhile, Cass Monroe is desperately searching for his missing twelve-year-old daughter. The case has nothing to do with Arles. It has nothing to do with any of Arles’s patients. And yet…

It’s a race against time not only to find a child but also to uncover the facts about Arles’s past and the secret about her patients’ traumas, as these interconnected mysteries may hold the answers. With the most pressing truths, Arles may finally develop the full picture that’s been developing before her eyes all these years.

—Jessica Tribble Wells, Editor

The Second Shot is truly a one-of-a-kind memoir. Part action-adventure, part journey of self-discovery, it’s a deeply personal story of being brave enough to forge a new path, to question the expectations put on one’s life, and to help others in need.

Former Green Beret Gene Yu was getting ready to start a new job when he got a call from his mother about Evelyn Chang’s kidnapping. Her family was desperate, and with no help coming from the government, Gene quickly realized that no one else would save her. Putting together a team to find Evelyn meant tapping into every lesson Gene had learned—along with a few unorthodox methods—to pull off a daring rescue.

Told with humor, heart, and a soldier’s tenacity, The Second Shot is an exhilarating and inspiring story of reinvention under intense pressure and of never giving up—of taking the second shot—and using past failures to recalibrate for success.

—Selena James, Editor

As a rule of thumb, any hero described to me as “Brendan Fraser in The Mummy playing the lead in a Bridgerton-esque television show” is an immediate and unequivocal yes. But Cole James, the hero author Emma Barry introduced me to in the pages of Bad Reputation, surpassed my wildest (and quite vivid) imagination. In the case of Cole, being bad is oh-so-very good.

If you’re like me and that pitch alone is enough to hook you on Bad Reputation, then I send you off to enjoy your read. If you need a little more convincing, allow me to highlight some of the other elements of this book that left me absolutely swooning:

• A+ banter
• Our heroine, Maggie Niven, is strong, outspoken, and my new literary best friend
• The sexiest enthusiastic consent I’ve ever read

  So while their reputations may be “bad,” watching Cole and Maggie fall in love was absolutely sexy, page-turning good.

  —Lauren Plude, Editor

You know that déjà vu feeling, when you think maybe you’ve been somewhere before? That’s similar to the feeling Lenny gets as he’s inducted into a school for ghosts and goes on an adventure, with a few near-death (or maybe actual death?) experiences along the way.

Set in a German castle that changes at night, this book has atmosphere, plenty of chills, and some unusual twists and turns. (No, Lenny never expected to give an impromptu speech to a knight-ghost while holding that knight’s severed head—although, he’d tell you that these kinds of things do get surprisingly easier with time.) Not to mention a whole cast of ghosts that are in turn frightening and completely hilarious—and at risk of losing the beloved building they’ve been in for centuries. Will Lenny live up to his famous name (he’s named after a dachshund!) and help save his ghostly pals?

After reading this book, it was no surprise to me to learn that the author has spent much of his life working to promote reading for boys and reluctant readers. If your kids like lighthearted spooky stories in the vein of Night at the Museum, then look no further than Lenny Among Ghosts.

—Marilyn Brigham, Editor