New Edelweiss E-galleys (11/13/2024)

Hello e-galley readers! Check out some of the exciting e-galleys that were recently added to Edelweiss for your downloading pleasure:

WAITING FOR BRITNEY SPEARS: A TRUE STORY, ALLEGEDLY  by Jeff Weiss
9780374606138 | 6/10/25

America, 2003: A country at war, its shiny veneer beginning to crack. Von Dutch and The Simple Life dominate. And on the cover of every magazine, a twenty-two-year-old pop star named Britney Spears. Tracking her every move for a third-tier gossip rag in Los Angeles is a young writer—for all practical purposes we’ll call him Jeff Weiss—who took whatever job he could to pursue his dream of being a “serious” writer. He would instead become a firsthand witness to the slow tragedy of a changing nation, represented in spirit by “the coy it-girl at the end of history.”

Years later, after finally making it as a celebrated cultural critic, Weiss presents WAITING FOR BRITNEY SPEARS, a gonzo, nostalgic, and mostly true recounting of Britney’s rise and fall during his years in the tabloid underbelly of Los Angeles. Weiss follows America’s sweetheart through Vegas superclubs and Malibu car chases, annulled marriages and soul-crushing legal battles, all the way to her infamous 2007 VMA performance and conservatorship. As Weiss wrestles with his own complicity, he observes, with peerless style, cringe-inducing fashion waves, a destructive culture of celebrity surveillance, and a country whose decline is embodied by the devastating downturn of its former golden child.

HAPPINESS FOREVER by Adelaide Faith
9780374608668 | 5/13/25

Sylvie is in love with her therapist; she thinks about her every second they’re not together (roughly 167 hours and 10 minutes per week). In that room, Sylvie is able to talk about everything. Her true pleasures, which include hitting a piñata so the candy falls out, and her thoughts about the false hope promised by eighties music and what a dog’s inner life is really like. She’s aware she has an obsession, but whether it’s extreme transference, “erotic transference,” or a lost person’s need to connect, Sylvie isn’t sure.

Sylvie has what she considers to be a small life: a job as a veterinary nurse, companionship from her tattooist friend via text, and her little brain-damaged dog, Curtains. One day, she meets Chloe, who understands Sylvie completely. Chloe becomes her friend that day and for the rest of her life.

When the therapist delivers devastating news, Sylvie has to imagine new and lasting ways of coping (that don’t include being adopted by the therapist). Her world has begun to open up, inching beyond the pain, confusion, and fear that have confined her, and she must decide whether she’s ready for a bravery of feeling.

With irresistible charm and a rare, warm wit, HAPPINESS FOREVER is one woman’s search inside—and for—herself. In this stunning debut, Adelaide Faith encapsulates the great vulnerability, difficulty, and joy of being a person and of being alive.

PERSPECTIVE(S) by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor
9780374614607 | 4/8/25

As dawn breaks over the city of Florence on New Year’s Day 1557, Jacopo da Pontormo is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him are the frescoes he labored over for more than a decade—masterpieces all, rivaling the works of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. When guards search his quarters, they find an obscene painting of Venus and Cupid—with the face of Venus replaced by that of Maria de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence’s oldest daughter. The city erupts in chaos.

Who could have committed these crimes: murder and lèse-majesté? Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian, is picked to lead the investigation. Letters start to fly back and forth—between Maria and her aunt Catherine de’ Medici, the queen of France; between Catherine and the scheming Piero Strozzi; and between Vasari and Michelangelo—carrying news of political plots and speculations about the identity of Pontormo’s killer. The truth, when it comes to light, is as shocking as the bold new artworks that have made Florence the red-hot center of European art and intrigue.

THE LOVE HATERS by Katherine Center
9781250283825 | 5/20/25

Producer Janie Vaughn’s co-worker helps her get a career-making gig profiling a Coast Guard rescue swimmer (who just happens to be his brother)—by claiming, falsely, that Janie is his girlfriend. As Janie spends time in Key West with the swimmer, Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson (along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane), she gets trapped by that lie—falling madly for Hutch, even as he thinks she’s the one woman on earth he can’t date. Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

TALK TO ME NICE: THE SEVEN TRUST LANGUAGES FOR A BETTER WORKPLACE by Minda Harts
9781250339980 | 7/22/25

We are living in a world of broken trust, especially in the workplace. Employees have heard too many empty promises and are unmotivated. Managers are scrambling to keep eyes on direct reports in demanding environments. Nobody knows how to talk to one another. Trust is the central pillar of any functioning workplace. But without it too many of us are unhappy, fed up, and ready to walk out the door.

Minda Harts knows from years of experience as a highly sought-after workplace consultant how a lack of trust between colleagues, managers, and executive leaders is bad for business and our own professional well-being. That’s where the seven workplace trust languages come into play. Earning trust is different for every one of us. Some respond well to verbal affirmations of their contributions, while others need visibility to see how business decisions are made. By understanding the seven languages of trust—transparency, security, demonstration, feedback, acknowledgment, sensitivity, and follow-through—we can all learn to navigate conflict, be more productive, and communicate more effectively.

In TALK TO ME NICE, you’ll learn what workplace trust languages work for you and how to show colleagues, managers, and direct reports that they are valued. When we’re talking one another’s languages, we can rebuild a more equitable, sustainable, and profitable workplace that works for us all.

SPITFIRES: THE AMERICAN WOMEN WHO FLEW IN THE FACE OF DANGER DURING WORLD WAR II by Becky Aikman
9781635576566 | 5/6/25

In 1942, a few months after the United States entered the Second World War, a band of twenty-five American women traveled to England to ferry planes for the British Royal Air Force. These women were not permitted to fly for the United States military. But Great Britain, desperate for a steady supply of warplanes in a fight for survival, accepted ferry pilots regardless of gender, race, or nationality.

These “spitfires” were risking their lives in one of the deadliest jobs of the war. They flew new, barely tested fighters and bombers to air bases and shot-up planes back for repair, never knowing what might go wrong until they were high in the sky. Many died in crashes or made spectacular saves. But ferrying was also the women’s opportunity to do their patriotic duty, excel, and revel in adventure. Before the war, they were crop dusters or debutantes, college girls or performers in flying circuses. But in wartime they lived like women decades ahead of their time, choosing the identities they wanted. Some shocked their British hosts with their thoroughly modern behavior.

With cinematic sweep, Becky Aikman follows the stories of nine of the women who served, drawing on unpublished diaries, letters, and records, along with her own interviews, to bring these forgotten heroines fully to life. SPITFIRES is a vivid, richly detailed account of war, ambition, and a group of remarkable women whose lives were as unconventional as their dreams.

INK RIBBON RED by Alex Pavesi
9781250755957 | 7/22/25

Anatol invites five of his oldest friends to his family home in the Wiltshire countryside to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. At his request, they play a game of his invention: Motive Method Death. The rules are simple: everyone chooses two players at random and imagines a scenario where one kills the other, then writes it down as a short story.

Points are given for making the murders feel real, as Anatol explains to the group. Of course, when given this assignment, it’s only natural to use what you know. Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret is out. It’s not long before the game has reawakened old resentments and brought private matters into the light of day. So with each fictional murder, someone new gets a very real motive.

INK RIBBON RED ultimately asks: When a real murder is headed your way, will you be able to spot it in time?

PLUS SIZE PLAYER by Danielle Allen
9781250331182 | 6/10/25

Nina Ford doesn’t like to put all her eggs in one basket. She works multiple jobs, she enjoys multiple hobbies, she dates multiple men. In her thirty years of life, Nina has never come across a man who has all the things she’s looking for.

She loves fun and excitement—and she has a man for that. She loves confidence and humor—and she has a man for that. She loves intelligence and ambition—and she has a man for that. She loves passion and romance—and she has a man for that.

She’s always been content rotating a few men in and out of her life to get her needs met. But when an opportunity presents itself, Nina’s in a bit of a predicament. Because if everything she’s ever wanted in a partner collides with everything she’s ever wanted in a career, her eggs are bound to get cracked. Like her back.

SLAYERS, EVERY ONE OF US: HOW ONE FIRL IN ALL THE WORLD SHOWED US HOW TO HOLD ON by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs
9781250286246 | 4/8/25

Kristin and Jenny’s marriage started with an ultimatum: to further their relationship, Kristin must watch Jenny’s favorite show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With the terms set, they began a journey that has led them through seven seasons of the beloved genre show, a podcast rewatching the series with their newly minted community of queer “Scoobies,” unexpected fame, and a divorce. Through it all, their love for Buffy and their commitment to their community held them together against the odds.

SLAYERS, EVERY ONE OF US is the story of how two queer women navigated divorce on a very public level and managed to stay in each other’s lives through it all. While chock full of Buffy content for true fans, it’s ultimately a memoir of queer love and chosen family. It’s a heartwarming story for anyone who’s experienced heartbreak, and a roadmap for staying close with your ex.

SALTY, SPICED, AND A LITTLE BIT NICE  by Cynthia Timoti
9781250343475 | 5/6/25

Ellie Pang has had enough of her controlling family, who has been micromanaging her life since her type 1 diabetes diagnosis. When her parents orchestrate a public proposal from their business partner’s son, a proposal that goes humiliatingly viral, Ellie escapes to the other side of the country to put her dream of opening a sugar-free bakery into action. Afterall, she’d done her research. How hard can it be?

She hits a snag when her storefront turns out to be a dump and in need of major renovations. Worse, the only person who can help her turn things around is Alec Mackenzie, her brother’s best friend and the man responsible for crushing her teenage heart ten years ago.

But Alec has a proposal of his own: he needs a pretend girlfriend in order to cement a business deal. All they need to do is feign love and affection, while trying not to maim each other. But when the thin line between hate and fake-madly-in-love starts to blur, and buried secrets resurface, Ellie must learn to trust her heart, and choose between love and family.