THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

  The local rumor mill in Nisa Ansari's small highland town is swirling about the downfall of her marriage, and in desperate need of a distraction, she enters her town’s Christmas house-decorating competition. The competition comes with the added bonus of getting on neighbor Kerr Murdoch’s last nerve. It’s the least she could do, considering her ex-husband left Nisa for Kerr’s girlfriend. And maybe if Kerr smiled or cracked a joke—just once!—his girlfriend would’ve stayed, and Nisa wouldn’t find herself alone during the holidays.   Introverted Kerr has trouble feeling comfortable around people he doesn’t know well. Newly single, he decorates his house in remembrance of his mother, who always had a soft spot for Christmas lights. But when Nisa's and Kerr’s decorations end up nearly identical, he incurs Nisa’s wrath.   This means all-out war, complete with gaudy wreaths, twinkle lights, and too many reindeer to count. Never mind that Nisa can’t keep her eyes off Kerr’s tone...

  “As a child I always wondered why Canadians were so much funnier than Americans. With the publication of the epic Sorry, We’re Funny, I finally have the historical proof behind this tragedy.” —Judd Apatow   The definitive history of the world's most polite revolution: How Canadian comics took over the comedy world.    "Canada is chock-full of broadcasting talent but hasn't a comedian worth his salt." So said the first Canadian Radio Commissioner echoing a near universal sentiment throughout most of the twentieth century: Canadians simply weren't that funny. They were too deferential, too serious, too Canadian to be funny. And yet, behind their polite exterior, Canadians were pioneering modern comedy.      Canadians built the first Hollywood studios, produced the first comedy films and trained scores of burgeoning comedy directors, writers and actors. "You can hardly move about Hollywood and Manhattan without bumping into Canadians," wrote ...

  Told entirely through police interviews, this stylish, sophisticated thriller captures the disastrous aftermath of Parisian rendezvous following the disappearance of a new lover Genie St. Onge’s heart is broken more often than it’s not—but that doesn’t stop her from diving in head-first when she meets Jacob Ford. Their connection is instantaneous and consuming, and they agree to meet again in Paris. In a heady mix of sugared pastries and rumpled bedsheets, they begin plotting their future together. In the dreamy apartment they're renting in the 11th arrondissement, they become intoxicated by each other. Until Jacob disappears. Genie knows Jacob would never leave her - not by choice. When phone calls to hospitals turn up nothing, she grows convinced that someone must have taken him. It's the only explanation. Under the scrutiny of the French police, however, Genie’s story doesn’t quite hold up—and it sounds like Jacob might not be all he seems, either. Through police interview...

  In the new novel SLEEPERS IN THE SNOW (Pegasus) Joanne Harris spins a masterful and enigmatic tale of psychological suspense.  At the outset, an unnamed man arrives at Kirkhill, an isolated house near a giant transmission tower on the North York Moors. Recently divorced and harboring animosity toward his ex-wife, he longs to make a fresh start in the property’s sublime isolation.  He’s pleased the house has come furnished and most of the former occupants’ possessions are still in place—even their diaries, which he starts to read. Before long, he becomes enthralled by the writings of the former residents, Arthur and Caroline, though the more he reads, the more he notices items around the house moving on their own or vanishing altogether.  As strange individuals appear in the woods surrounding Kirkhill and the relentless whine of the tower starts to feel increasingly sinister, Arthur and Caroline’s diaries hint at a murder that might explain Kirkhill’s haunting. Harr...

  For fans of Good Spirits, Hallmark holiday movies, and general witchy shenanigans, this charming holiday romance follows a woman with a curse and the handsome witch she reluctantly enlists to help her break it. Hayleigh Gray is cursed - for real. After losing her job, her savings, and her relationship, it's the discovery of a lump on her beloved horse’s neck that finally sends Hayleigh looking for solutions. And she knows where to start: Elk Ridge, Washington, a seemingly innocuous small town with a cliched winter festival and a whole lot of witches. There, she crosses paths with Stephan Midwinter, an animal-rescuing artist with a reputation a mile long and a whole lot of magic that Hayleigh wants nothing to do with. Adamant that his coven wasn’t involved in the curse, he offers to help her find the real culprit and break the curse before Christmas Day. As Hayleigh and Stephan face ancestral secrets, mischievous holiday spirits, and being snowed into the world’s kitschiest holid...

  This poignant and compelling memoir, set in ’60s–’70s Los Angeles, traces a daughter’s experience of her mother’s schizophrenia and its lasting fallout before she ultimately reckons with her mother’s suicide and trusts in enduring love. When Suzanne Sherman is four, her musically gifted mother is struck by sudden-onset schizophrenia, altering the course of Suzanne’s childhood. Told in dual timelines—the years of her childhood and the two weeks following her mother’s suicide when Suzanne is eighteen— Living in the Long Shadow traces Suzanne’s coming of age in the shadow of mental illness as her family struggles with its far-reaching effects. As a teenager, Suzanne makes the difficult decision to leave her mother’s home and eventually moves in with her father and stepfamily. While her mother manages life on medication, Suzanne forms a friendship with her, sharing values, confidences, and a love of music and poetry. But a year after leaving Los Angeles for college, she learns that ...

  Draw near to God this Christmas season as you reflect on spiritual lessons from a timeless holiday classic. This 25-day Advent devotional journeys through one of the world's most beloved Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and helps you honor Christmas in your heart—and keep it all year! In this devotional companion to the cherished classic, you'll walk alongside Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim as you explore the many spiritual lessons tucked into the story. The timeless novella's themes of redemption, generosity, and community will help you prepare your heart for Christmas and reflect on all God has done, is doing, and is preparing to do in your life. Each daily entry includes a key scripture, a retelling of part of the story, a personal reflection, and a short prayer. Filled with beautiful line-art illustrations, A Christmas Carol Devotional will help you slow down and draw near to Christ during the busy Christmas season. This heartw...

  THE CHAPERONES (Thomas&Mercer) by Amy Meyerson is a propulsive psychological thriller about privileged parents and their kids on an idyllic camping trip that turns deadly. The third-grade parents at the elite Chester School don’t do anything small—not their drama and certainly not their end-of-year trips. As they set out to the remote island of Santa Cruz off the coast of Southern California, where the only amenity is running water and help is a ninety-minute boat ride away, they may have finally gotten in over their heads. Stranded by a sudden storm, the chaperones wake to find two children missing from their tents. The search for the boys leads to a body—and a surfacing of secrets that were meant to stay buried. Because there’s someone else on the island. Someone with secrets of their own. Someone who shouldn’t be there. And has every reason to stay. The Chaperones is a locked room thriller that will keep readers guessing about who’s dead and who’s capable of murder, and ...

  WITCHES THREE (Berkley) by Kristin Judd impacts our present, and the importance of understanding our history in making sense of our contemporary world.   England, 1650: Mary, a secret healer, longs for a life far from the farm where she was raised. One star-strewn night, she and her forbidden love escape to London, building a new life together while working in an apothecary shop. But Mary’s dramatic decisions will reverberate through the generations of women who come after her. Massachusetts, 1692: When Clara Brooks is accused of witchcraft at the height of the Salem witch trials, she escapes deep into the wilderness with her young daughter in tow. Their only hope of survival is the gift Clara has long kept at bay—a deep and intrinsic connection to the natural world—and a mysterious presence who guides them on their harrowing journey. Washington, 1959: July Hathaway, once an aspiring medical student with a hidden power of healing, is now a single, unwed mother. To protect...

  THE DATING GAME (Berkley) by Ally Zetterberg is a clever and surprising thriller about the perils of modern dating and  female rage. It inspires, a board game designer to start playing by her own rules, and losers won’t be tolerated. The friendship game. The dating game. The end game. For board game designer Tilda Smith they’re all necessary steps on the path to finding happiness. And by structuring her life according to a set of rules, just like in the games that she loves to create at her job, Tilda can finally win. The only problem? The other players don’t know they’re playing by Tilda’s rules. She’s fair. Very fair, in fact. But then one night her date pushes her too far and she gets just a bit carried away. Any player who disappoints must face consequences, right? But as Tilda finds herself transporting a body in a laundry bag, she has to question how to make the punishment fit the crime.  And now someone is watching Tilda and playing a game of their own. Will they...

  In this juicy psychological thriller, home organizer Emily is invited to vacation at her beautiful and wealthy new client's summer home—but once inside, Emily doesn’t want to leave. Every one of my home organizing clients is a fabulous liar. They tell themselves they need to keep clutter in their lives for rainy days or just-in-cases. They hold onto things too tightly. Most people don't know how to cut to the heart of what's important and purge everything that's not. That's where I come in. I can look into my clients lives and see exactly what's weighing them down, and I get rid of it for them. It sounds easy, but I’ll let you in on a secret: I have trouble letting go of things, too. When Cap slides into my life with her neon signs and velvet hair bows and magnetic energy, I know I can't just let her walk away. Because one of the first rules of home organizing is that like belongs with like. And Cap and me? We're destined to be together. She may not kn...

  A charming second-chance romance about a young woman determined to finally embrace vulnerability—a love letter to anyone who’s ever felt their body is a barrier to their happiness. In THIGHS WIDE SHUT (PenguinRandomHouse), Emma thought her late twenties couldn’t get any more complicated. But then she quit her teaching job and moved across the country—only to find herself living right below the man she tried for years to avoid. Emma hasn’t seen Harrison since an explosive fight ended their college friendship and crushed the possibility of anything more ever happening between them. Now that his apartment is right above hers, Emma is privy to every detail of his active (and noisy) dating life. She knows she has only herself to blame for their estrangement: her inability to be honest with Harrison drove him away. It’s clear he’s moved on; why can’t she? Presented with an opportunity to reignite the long-smoldering flames of their relationship, Emma realizes that to seize the moment, ...

It’s October 2025 and Hamilton, Ontario is a city on edge—job insecurity, rising rents, and polarization combine in dangerous ways. When a series of abductions plunges the city into chaos, an unsuspecting hero arises: a young steelworker struggling to find his place in the world.      At twenty-six years old, Danny Clarke’s greatest concerns are: the Blue Jays World Series run, maintaining a friendship with his ex-girlfriend (and definitely not vying to win her back), and becoming a good man—or at the very least, figuring out what that means. In other words, he mostly cares about himself.      On a crisp October evening, during his break at the plant, Danny witnesses the abduction of Braden Steel CFO Jonathan Lean, his hands and feet bound as he’s dragged out of the office by three masked kidnappers. Capitalizing on the existing social tension in the city, the criminals begin terrorizing Hamilton, abducting one person per day in a twiste...

  From  New York Times  bestselling author Tess Gerritsen comes a harrowing and emotional thriller where ghosts of the Cold War return with a vengeance—and cannot be outrun. When a renowned disease expert and Russian defector dies mysteriously during a global affairs conference in Purity, Maine, the tight-knit band of former spies in the Martini Club once again sees their quiet coastal retirement interrupted by international intrigue. And when a waitress at the conference hotel is found murdered, Ingrid Slocum sees chilling links to a disastrous mission that nearly killed her three decades ago. Desperate to uncover the truth, Ingrid’s drawn back into the game by a magnetic ex-CIA colleague—and former lover—who was with her on the long-ago doomed mission. He convinces her to join him, and together they head to Amsterdam to track down her would-be killer. Ingrid’s frantic husband Lloyd and Maggie Bird are close behind, but a clandestine network of assassins is intent on sto...

  Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order. But when a slew of targeted murders makes headlines across LA, all pointing to Scout as the killer, she turns overnight from a mid-tier pop star into the world’s most famous (alleged) murderer. Now everything she’s worked to build—including the justice she wants for Georgia—will fall apart unless Scout can prove she’s not guilty. Meanwhile, the young and unusual detective assigned to her case, herself no stranger to tragedy, begins to unearth secrets not even Scout knows, let alone her millions of new fans. Particularly about the ways Georgia’s death connects to an even older pattern of crimes long hushed over ...

  " Whatever Jen Agg says is worth listening to ." —Anthony Bourdain   From the beloved restaurateur behind The Black Hoof, Grey Gardens, and General Public, as well as the bestselling author of I Hear She's a Real Bitch , comes a hilarious, heartbreaking look at love, success, and, most importantly, good lighting.    Jen Agg had a thriving restaurant group, a beautiful marriage to a handsome artist husband, and extremely good skin. If anyone could give advice on living well in your forties, it was her. Then, disaster struck. As a global pandemic threw the restaurant business into chaos, Jen’s husband, Roland, suffered a catastrophic stroke.        In her new memoir, Jen captures what it felt like to rethink everything just when she thought it was all working out as she’d planned. Table Boss makes you understand what Jen’s friend Anthony Bourdain loved about her—her singular combination of wry humour, unflinching honesty, and real ...

Two high school rivals begrudgingly reunite as adults to investigate the disappearance of their beloved former teacher in Bridget Morrissey's IN WHAT WORLD (Berkley).   Total opposites, Marlowe Jenkins and Priscilla Covington-French hated each other in high school. Now in their thirties, Marlowe is barely scraping by while Priscilla is wildly successful. Their rivalry should be long dead, yet both women remain connected through their mutual mentor, drama teacher Dallas Winthrop. Their unending tension has nothing to do with the fact that they’ve kissed. More than once.   When Dallas goes missing, each woman believes she can figure out where he is. Except this is no ordinary disappearance. Dallas has found a way to explore alternate versions of reality. While trying to follow him, Marlowe and Priscilla find other versions of themselves instead, surprised to learn not all Marlowes and Priscillas are fueled by hate. In fact, some Marlowes and Priscillas have very different strong...