New Edelweiss E-galleys (6/5/2024)

THE GREAT DATING FAKE OFF by Livy Hart
9781649376510| 8/6/24

Nora D’Amato would do almost anything for her best friend. Pretend she’s smitten with him to get his overly invested Italian family off his back? Absolutely. Attend a wedding for said overbearing family? Bring it. Spend the next six days at a posh resort watching the bride and groom’s families hate on each other? Pass the popcorn.

There’s only one tiny little hiccup. Nora’s crush—and the object of some very inappropriate thoughts—is here, too. And looking so delectable that she could spoon him faster than stracciatella gelato in a heat wave.

But Sebastian Rossi isn’t available . . . officially. He’s here with his fake wedding date. And he owes her big time for keeping an eye on his nonna while he’s away months at a time for work. A week in the Adirondacks is a piece of overly frosted cake. Besides, it’s not as though he can have a real relationship when he’s constantly on the move. Definitely not with the cute bookstore manager he can’t stop thinking about.

And a wedding war zone with two feuding families is not the time or place for flirting or sexy sneak-arounds. Everyone is watching—whether it’s during the pickleball tournament, the angry patriarch showdowns, or even the bull-riding bachelorette party. This wedding is one slipped fauxcade away from catastrophe, and if Nora and Sebastian can’t keep to their own sides of the aisle, they risk exposing the very secrets they’re sworn to protect.

VANTAGE POINT by Sara Sligar
9780374282295| 1/14/25

The old-money Wieland family has it all—wealth, status, power. They’re also famously cursed.

Clara and her brother, Teddy, grew up on a small island in Maine in the shadow of their parents’ tragic deaths, haunted by rumors and paparazzi. Fourteen years later, they’ve mostly put their turbulent past to rest. Teddy has married Clara’s best friend, Jess, and the three of them have moved back home to take over the sprawling, remote family mansion known as Vantage Point. Then Teddy decides to run for the Senate—an unnerving prospect made much worse when intimate videos of Clara are leaked online. The most frightening part is that she doesn’t remember filming any of them. Are the videos real? Or are they deepfakes? Is someone trying to take down the Wielands once and for all?

Everyone thinks Clara is losing her grasp on reality. But she knows the truth: the videos are only the beginning. Years ago, the curse destroyed her parents. Now, it’s coming for her.

Sara Sligar, the critically acclaimed author of TAKE ME APART, returns with another shocking, breathless novel of Gothic suspense. Brimming with palpable tension, VANTAGE POINT reveals a twisted web of family secrets and political ambition that raises questions about the blurred lines between public and private personas and the nature of “truth” in our digital age.

CURDLE CREEK by Yvonne Battle-Felton
9781250362018| 10/15/24

Welcome to Curdle Creek, a place just dying to make you feel at home. Osira, a forty-five-year-old widow, is an obedient follower of the strict conventions of Curdle Creek, an all-Black town in rural America stuck in the past and governed by a tradition of ominous rituals. Osira is considered blessed, but her luck changes when her children run off, she comes second to last in the Running of the Widows and her father flees when his name is called in the annual Moving On ceremony. Forced into a test of allegiance, Osira finds herself transported back in time, then into another realm where she must answer for crimes committed by Curdle Creek. Exile forces her to jump realms again, landing Osira even farther away from home, in rural England. Safe as long as she sticks to the rules, she quickly learns there are consequences for every kindness. Will another jump lead Osira anywhere but back home?

CURDLE CREEK is a unique, inventive novel exploring themes of home, belonging, motherhood and what we inherit from society. This American gothic offers a mash-up of the surreal and literary horror that will appeal to fans of RING SHOUT, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD and LOVECRAFT COUNTRY. Yvonne Battle-Felton’s fever dream of a tale is enthralling, layered and quite unlike anything else.

THE CAT WHO CRACKED A COLD CASE by L T Shearer
9781035043798| 2/11/25

Conrad the cat detective and retired police detective Lulu Lewis travel to Manchester on their canal boat and must investigate a cold case where it seems the killer has returned . . .

THE CAT WHO CRACKED A COLD CASE by L T Shearer is a charming cosy crime read for fans of Richard Osman, Reverend Richard Coles and S. J. Bennett.

A crime gone unsolved for five years . . .

The life of Lulu Lewis, a former police detective, took an unforgettable turn when she met a stray cat named Conrad. There’s something extraordinary about Conrad, yet it remains a secret closely guarded by her as they travel around Britain’s waterways on her canal boat, The Lark.

While visiting an old friend in Manchester, Lulu Lewis and Conrad stumble across a chilling investigation as a news story about bodies found across the city mirrors a series of unsolved murders from Lulu’s past in London.

Joined forces with the local police, Lulu and Conrad must use every ounce of their intuition in order to find the connection between the victims and track down a deadly killer . . .

PROPAGANDA GIRLS: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS by Lisa Rogak
9781250275592| 3/4/25

The incredible untold story of four women who helped win WWII by generating a wave of black propaganda.

Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.

Members of the OSS, their task was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim to break the morale of Axis soldiers. Working in the European theater, across enemy lines in occupied China, and in Washington, D.C., Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene forged letters and “official” military orders, wrote and produced entire newspapers, scripted radio broadcasts and songs, and even developed rumors for undercover spies and double agents to spread to the enemy. And outside of a small group of spies, no one knew they existed. Until now.

In PROPAGANDA GIRLS, bestselling author Lisa Rogak brings to vivid life the incredible true story of four unsung heroes, whose spellbinding achievements would change the course of history.

YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE ME: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Other Stuff I Should Only Tell My Therapist by Kari Ferrell
9781250288226| 1/7/25

The compelling, edgy, compassionate, laugh-out-loud memoir from Kari Ferrell, formerly known as the Hipster Grifter.

Before Anna Delvey, before the Tinder Swindler, there was Kari Ferrell. Adopted at a young age by a Mormon family in Utah, Kari struggled with questions of self-worth as one of the few Asian Americans in her community, leading her to run with the “bad crowd” in an effort to fit in. Soon, she graduated from petty crimes to serious grifts, stealing money from unsuspecting targets and eventually hitting Utah’s Most Wanted List. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves to New York City, slips into the indie-sleaze scene where she games her way to a job at Vice News, picks up men and their wallets at clandestine bars, and becomes known as the Hipster Grifter, a moniker she would never escape.

As the media—in true early aughts form—sensationalizes and fetishizes her story and thousands followed along online, she hides from cops in a grungy Brooklyn apartment, eventually goes to jail where she survives prison riots and makes friends, and in search of her roots, returns to Korea for the first time.

In turns rollicking and irreverent, warm and sincere, Kari’s is a heartfelt memoir of redemption, as she eventually dedicates her life to activism and setting the record straight. YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE ME tells Kari’s story for the first time and offers readers a nostalgic, uplifting, and, at times, unbelievable book that grapples with truth, why we lie, and what it means when our pasts don’t paint the whole picture.

THE QUEENS OF CRIME by Marie Benedict
9781250280756| 2/11/25

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have gathered to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous. Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, The New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

HOW TO GET A LIFE IN TEN DATES by Jenny L. Howe
9781250331465| 12/10/24

Dating as a plus-size woman has been exhausting for Haleigh Berkshire. Sure, she’s only twenty-five, but she’s been doing it for a decade, and she’s beginning to think it’s time for a sabbatical. It doesn’t help that she’s been madly in love with her best friend, Jack, for years—but one disastrous weekend in college taught her the hard way that they’ll never be more than friends.

With her sister’s engagement celebration fast approaching, and her friends and family nagging her about a plus-one, Haleigh and Jack do what they do best: scheme. Haleigh agrees to let her friends and family set her up with ten people—and she’s sure that, once none of them prove to be good matches, her loved ones will finally let her fade into romantic retirement in peace.

To her surprise, some of Haleigh’s dates go better than expected, and for the first time in forever, she’s actually having fun. Until Jack starts breaking all the rules they’d made to mend their friendship in college. He produces a laundry list of flaws for everyone she likes, crashes some of her nights out, and finally shocks her by throwing himself into the mix. Dating Jack has always been the dream, but Haleigh is afraid of the reality. Is it worth risking her best friend for something that may have never been meant to be?

I THINK THEY LOVE YOU by Julian Winters
9781250326249| 1/28/25

When Denzel “Denz” Carter’s workaholic father and CEO of 24 Carter Gold unexpectedly announces his retirement, the competition is on for who will become his successor. To convince his judgmental family members that Denz is capable of commitment he impulsively lies about being in a serious relationship. Problem is the last serious relationship he was in hung him high and dry after leaving the continent.

Now Denz needs to find a fake boyfriend to bring to family functions and seal the deal on the CEO position. To do so he enlists the help of his best friend and roommate, Jamie. Someone his family already accepts in their inner circle. But when his BFF is a no-show, Denz is forced to turn to the last person he wants to be in a pretend (or any) relationship with: Braylon, the man who broke his heart.

Braylon’s sudden reappearance in Denz’s life turns everything upside down. But apparently, he needs Denz’s connections to the mayor to win his own promotion and Denz is currently up a creek without a paddle. So, they strike a deal. It’s all business, but between the funny texts and the confusing kisses soon enough Denz is struggling to separate business from the affairs of his heart.

In Julian Winters’s I THINK THEY LOVE YOU, sometimes fake dating your way to success can mean finding the second chance at love you’ve needed all along.

THINGS LEFT UNSAID by Sara Jafari
9781250288837| 4/15/25

A beautiful, insightful, and remarkable novel about a young British Iranian woman finding her way through the heartbreaks and triumphs of life, for fans of MAAME and OLGA DIES DREAMING.

When twenty-six year old Shirin Bayat bumps into Kian at a house party in London, she is taken aback by the immediate feelings that resurface. It’s been a decade since they were best friends at school, before painful events pulled them apart, suddenly and seemingly forever. Ever since, Shirin has lived with the aching weight of things left unsaid between them.

Now they’re back in each other’s lives, at a time when Shirin needs someone she can trust the most. Feeling stuck in a sea of slippery friendships and deeply burned out by her publishing job, Kian is a bright light amongst a sea of gray. There’s nothing worse than losing the person you trust most with your deepest secrets and desires, and Shirin and Kian are determined to hold tightly to each other.

But of course, life often has other plans. Will it be different this time around, or are Shirin and Kian destined to fall apart once more?

A dazzling, electrifying, and thought-provoking novel for readers of NORMAL PEOPLE, and MAAME, THINGS LEFT UNSAID is a mesmerizing and deeply-felt exploration of healing past trauma, discovering your place in the world, and the lasting power of love.