Debuts 8/1/24

Today we are spotlighting upcoming debuts, from gripping thrillers, to intense journeys, to romantic comedies. 

PENITENCE by Kristin Koval | 9781250342997 | Available 2/18/2025

Available for download on Edelweiss. LibraryReads votes due by January 1st.

When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.

WE PRETTY PIECES OF FLESH  by Colwill Brown | 9781250342881 | Available 3/4/2025

Available for download on Edelweiss. LibraryReads votes due by February 1st.

“Ask anyone non-Northern, they’ll only know Donny as punchline of a joke or place they changed trains once ont way to London.” But it’s also the home of Rach, Shaz, and Kel, bezzies since childhood and Donny lasses through and through. Never mind that Rach is skeptical of Shaz’s bolder plots; or that Shaz, who comes from a rougher end of town, feels left behind when the others begin plotting a course to uni; or that Kel sometimes feels split in two trying to keep the peace – the girls are inseparable, their friendship as indestructible as they are. But as the girls grow up and away from each other, a long-festering secret threatens to rip the trio apart.

BAD NATURE by Ariel Courage | 9781250360885 | Available 4/1/2025

Available for download on Edelweiss. LibraryReads votes due by March 1st.

It’s Hester’s fortieth birthday when she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she knows immediately what she must do: abandon her possessions and drive to California to kill her estranged father. With no friends or family tying her to the life she’s built in New York City, she quits her wildly lucrative job in corporate law and sets off. She hasn’t made it far when she runs into John, an environmental activist in need of a ride to different superfund sites across the United States. From five-star Midwestern hotels to cultish Southwestern compounds, the two slowly make their way across the country. But will the revelations they make along the way dissuade Hester from her final goal?

LISTEN TO YOUR SISTER by Neena Viel | 9781250906328 | Available 2/4/2025

Available for download on Edelweiss. LibraryReads votes due by January 1st.

Twenty-five year old Calla Williams is struggling since becoming guardian to her brother, Jamie. Calla is overwhelmed and tired of being the one who makes sacrifices to keep the family together. Jamie, full of good-natured sixteen-year-old recklessness, is usually off fighting for what matters to him or getting into mischief, often at the same time. Dre, their brother, promised he would help raise Jamie–but now the ink is dry on the paperwork and in classic middle-child fashion, he’s off doing his own thing. And through it all, The Nightmare never stops haunting Calla: recurring images of her brothers dying that she is powerless to stop.

LET’S CALL A TRUCE by Amy Buchanan | 9781250341563 | Available 1/14/2025

Available for download on Edelweiss. LibraryReads votes due by December 1st.

After Juliana’s husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her with two grieving kids and a stunted career from years as a stay-at-home mom, she has no choice but to make it work all alone. That is until, on her first day back at work, she overhears her new colleague, the condescending but infuriatingly attractive Ben, talking about how her kids and inexperience are a liability the company can’t afford. This sets off a feud between the two, as Juliana vows to prove him wrong.

SPLINTER EFFECT by Andrew Ludington | 9781250349309 | Available 3/18/2025

Available for download on Edelweiss. LibraryReads votes due by February 1st.

Smithsonian archaeologist Rabbit Ward travels through time on sponsored expeditions to the past to secure precious artifacts moments before they are lost to history. Although exceptional at his job, Rabbit is not without faults. In a spectacular failure twenty years ago, he lost both the menorah of the second temple and his hot-headed mentee, Aaron. So, when new evidence reveals the menorah’s reappearance in 6th century Constantinople, Rabbit seizes the chance for redemption.