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FERAL RISING

In a world filled with people possessing fantastic powers, 15-year-old Alé Aragón was once deemed a Deficient, lacking an “accelerated ability” that many others have. But he survived a brutal fight, marking him as a Feral, a designation that means his ability—to come back from the dead—is outside the Common Six (such as the telekinesis […]

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THE PEACH

In the summer of 2003, the author, a NICU nurse, traveled to California after leaving an unhealthy relationship. A routine trip to the Santa Monica Farmers Market turned into a life-altering tragedy when 86-year-old Russell Weller’s “pedal error” caused his Buick to speed through the crowd, killing 10 and injuring many more. Cronin was hospitalized […]

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LOVE AND LIES ALONG THE LANGUAGE BARRIER

Faraday (a pseudonym) has traveled to over 150 countries throughout his career, and he’s collected a wide array of lovers in each one. In often explicit detail, he recounts his adventures with (to pick two examples) a self-confessed Romanian criminal and an international porn star from Azerbaijan in this work, describing how he’s navigated both […]

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BUTTER ROAD

This novel, its author writes, “was born out of the real grief of the West Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting,” when a gunman shot 10 girls at an Amish school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. While this book begins on that terrible morning in October, 2006, it doesn’t indulge in any violence, quickly switching to the voice of […]

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SWEET CRUDE

Nine years before the bulk of the story takes place, New York University student Myra; her future husband, Alfred; and their friends witness the accidental death of Myra’s then-boyfriend Liam after he falls off a fire escape. In the present, Myra and Alfred have a stagnant marriage; things are especially uneasy of late due to […]

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ABBREVIATED MINOR

The novel’s protagonist is named Sergio (a moniker given to him by his Mexican American father); he’s known as Serge. When still a child in 1968, he and his older sister, Angela, are brought by their mother to Central California in search of “the Big Sur experience” (Big Sur being a place where, supposedly, “people […]

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HIDDEN TERRORS

Cholera, a virulent, intestinal disease spread by contaminated water, emerged from South Asia in 1830, devastating the cities of Europe as it moved west. By 1832, it appeared in Canada, and, despite efforts to prevent its arrival, the U.S. didn’t have long to wait. Kelton meticulously documents the disease’s spread across the country and the […]

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MIDNIGHT AT THE SAVOY

Bored with life in Toronto, attractive young Priscilla Tempest left Canada for London, where she’s serving as press officer at the famed Savoy Hotel. Her title might as well be Miss Fix-it, since she’s the one who’s called to deal with all sorts of problems, from hungover guests to temperamental actors who refuse to rehearse. […]

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ONCE IN A TIMELINE

Laia Grace Shirzan lives a perfect, happy life in beautiful New York City with a daily routine involving meditation and manifestations, makeup and skin care (whale semen for the faceful of multivitamins!), the most delicious lattes, Pilates (where she never sweats), and content creation for her moderately successful profile. Tonight there’s an important brand event […]

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WRITTEN IN STARLIGHT

Della Farley embodies the classic fairy-tale heroine of a working-class woman whose dreams stretch far beyond her responsibilities of scrubbing floors and dusting shelves. When she discovers a mysterious book lying in the street, she’s captured by the tale of an intergalactic bounty hunter named Ansel Tulzok. In the next chapter, Ansel himself finds a […]