Let’s take a look at some of the new books releasing this week!
Books for Kids
Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away – Best friends are challenged when one of the families is moving away. This looks sweet.
Fairy Science: Solid, Liquid, Gassy – Book 2 in the Fairy Science series from Ashley Spires.
Snow Day for Groot – Rocket and Groot have a day off to hang out with Spider-Man in New York. I was sold when I saw Shuri tucked into an illustration of the characters at the NYPL. I love clever storytelling and illustrations!
Speak Up Molly Lou Melon – Sweet little Molly Lou Melon stands up for her friends.
God Speaks in Whispers – A new picture book about hearing God from Mark Batterson.
Happy Narwhalidays – Book 5 in the Narwhal and Jelly series. Narwhal is excited about the holiday arrival of the Merry Mermicorn while Jelly is trying to figure out the best gift to give Narwhal. This is a cute series.
Stink and the Hairy Scary Spider – Book 12 in the Stink series. Judy and her friend Webster try to help Stink with his spider phobia.
Books for Older Kids/Teens/Young Adults
Alex Rider: Ark Angel (Graphic Novel) – A graphic novel adaptation of the 6th Alex Rider novel.
The Canyon’s Edge – The latest from the author of Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus. When a girl and her father are exploring a canyon in Arizona, a flash flood sweeps him and their supplies away, leaving Nora on her own in the desert.
Izzy Newton and the SMART Squad: Absolute Hero – First in the new SMART Squad series. Izzy Newton, Allie Einstein, and Charlie Darwin are the SMART Squad, and they use science to solve problems at their school, like when the air conditioning goes on the fritz, creating a chilly situation. This looks cute!
Kudo Kids: Mystery of the Masked Medalist – First in the new Kudo Kids series, set at the Tokyo Olympics. A mysterious Olympic medalist has created a scavenger hunt game for Olympics fans to play while they are in Tokyo. But when someone sabotages the game, Andy and Mika start looking for the troublemaker.
Lost Wonderland Diaries – First in a new series. Lewis Carroll created four diaries of his actual journeys into Wonderland, but the journals have been lost. Two kids find the diaries and are pulled through a portal into Wonderland, but it is a Wonderland that has changed in dark ways.
Revver the Speedway Squirrel – First in a new illustrated series. A squirrel who lives above a race track longs to be a race car driver.
Stick Dog Meets His Match – Book 10 in the Stick Dog series by Tom Watson. This time, Stick Dog is trying to rescue Karen and track down a meat truck to feed his friends.
Unwanted Quests: Dragon Slayers – Book 6 in the Unwanted Quests series. The twins have been captured by a dragon woman who traps them between four vicious dragons, hoping to coerce them to fight on her side.
Loved and Cherished: 100 Devotions for Girls – Devotions to address the questions girls may have about identity and self-image.
Where Is Chichen Itza? – Readers can learn about the center of Mayan culture.
The Bookweaver’s Daughter – An OwnVoices YA fantasy centered around Indian culture. Reya can trace her family back through generations of Bookweavers, those who guarded Kasmiri culture. Reya’s father, who can use this Bookweaver magic, has been taken by those who would like to see magic stamped out. Reya and a friend flee with only one book to help her discover her magic and save her father and her people.
Charming as a Verb – A teen working a dog-walking scheme can’t charm the classmate who discovers his less-than-honest system. So he agrees to help her change her image at school in exchange for her not ratting him out.
Currents (The Ables) – Book 3 in the Ables series, set four years after the events in book 2, Strings. Now in college, the heroes are fighting an energy-hoarding villain while Philip struggles with the loss of his sight again.
Devastation Class – A new book from the folks at Blink YA publishing. Triumphant after a 9 year war with the Kastazi, Earth sends the California out for a science expedition. But the crew stumbles on a new advancing force of Kastazi. Two cadets who think they have the best plan for the ship’s survival activate experimental technology that takes them not to a safe region of space but to an alternate reality. Sounds awesome!
Nobody Knows But You – A new thriller about a summer at camp that ends in murder.
The Other Side of the Sky – His home is in the sky, powered by technology. Her’s is on the Surface. Despite their feelings for one another, a prophecy makes it clear what could happen if they act on their emotions.
Sources Say – Angeline and Leo, exes who are both running for class president, up their games when someone posts doctored photos of scantily clad girls from their school. Angeline’s sister, Cat, is content to report on the election – and the photos – for the school paper. But when someone anonymously starts reporting “fake news,” Cat is ready to throw down for journalistic integrity.
These Vengeful Hearts – Ember has seen the damage a secret society, the Red Court, and their leader, the Queen of Hearts, have done to her school, so she decides to tear them apart from within.
Books for Adults
Checked Out for Murder (Hardcover) – Book 4 in the Haunted Library Mystery series. Carrie, the librarian, and Evelyn, the library ghost, team up again when a woman shows up claiming to be a psychic, but she somehow never perceives the danger she is in from a killer.
Cottage on Gooseberry Bay: Halloween Moon (e-book) – First in a new series. Ainsley is in Gooseberry Bay looking for answers after losing the man who raised her about his death and about the family she once belonged to. This sounds fascinating. This is free for Kindle Unlimited Subscribers to read at the time of this writing.
A Deception at Thornecrest (Hardcover) – Book 7 in the Amory Ames Mystery series. While Milo is in London on business, Amory is at home at Thornecrest getting things ready for the arrival of their baby. Then a stranger arrives claiming she is also Milo’s wife. I haven’t read any of these before, but I will absolutely be picking this up to check out that plot twist!
For Whom the Book Tolls (Hardcover) – First in the new Antique Bookshop Mystery series. Jenna accepts her uncle’s invitation to come for a visit so she can flee some trouble at home. But trouble finds her anyway when she finds her uncle’s body and she’s accused of the crime. I’m looking forward to this one!
In Case You Missed It (Trade Paperback) – After 3 years away, Ros comes home to find everything has changed, just when she wants to pick things up where she left off.
Little Bookshop of Murder (Hardcover) – First in the new Beach Reads Mystery series. I posted a full review of this one last week. You can read it here.
Murder at Hotel 1911 (Hardcover) – First in the new Ivy Nichols Mystery series. Ivy works behind the check in desk at the Hotel 1911, so she gets to meet all the guests. Unfortunately that includes the unpleasant ones like the wealthy Ms. Swain. When Ms. Swain later dies from eating something she was allergic to, the hotel chef is implicated. But Ivy is sure her friend is innocent.
Murder Most Sweet (Hardcover) – First in the new Bookish Baker Mystery series. A local baker and mystery writer becomes the suspect in a real-life murder case when the fiancée of a touring author is found dead. I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
One By One (Hardcover) – A trendy startup decides to hold a team building retreat in a rustic ski chalet in the French Alps. But one team member doesn’t make it back to the chalet before an avalanche. And the surviving group members may be in an equal amount of danger as tempers flare and they are cut off from outside help.
Portrait of Loyalty (Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Codebreakers series. One of Russia’s top cryptographers offers his services to the Brits and meets a photographer who is also working for British Intelligence. As feelings grow between them, though, can they get through the roadblocks caused by his past?
Prime Deceptions (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Chilling Effect series. Captain Eva Innocente agrees to help her sister by tracking down a missing scientist. She’s not sure she can trust her sister, but the payday is worth the risk. But her hunt takes her back to the scene of her greatest failure. Can Eva pull off this latest quest cleanly, or is she doomed to repeat the past?
Two Reasons to Run (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Pelican Harbor series by Colleen Coble. Police Chief Jane Hardy is still dealing with the fall out over her father’s lie and a convoluted history that involves a cult and her mother, not to mention her newly-returned ex with her presumed-dead teen son. But those things will have to go to the back burner when an environmental terrorist strikes and Jane’s son’s life is on the line.
A Literary Holiday Cookbook: Festive Meals for the Snow Queen, Gandalf, Sherlock, Scrooge, and Booklovers Everywhere (Hardcover)
The Liturgy of Politics (Trade Paperback) – Includes 17 full four-course holiday meals from 25 classic stories including Little Women and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The Liturgy of Politics: Spiritual Formation for the Sake of Our Neighbor (Trade Paperback) – Looks at how the Church’s practices and habits shape its politics and suggests course corrections to get us back to Jesus. I have this one on my list.
Pass It On: Work Hard, Serve Others, … Repeat (Hardcover) – From Houston Texans’ QB Deshaun Watson. Watson shares the story of his family receiving a house from Falcon’s RB Warrick Dunn’s charity when Watson was a kid and the impact it made on him. Includes 7 core values that Watson uses to anchor his life including generosity, service, and empathy
Peace: Hope and Healing for the Anxious Momma’s Heart (Trade Paperback) – Wrestling with anxiety and fear in a world that tells women they just need to “have more faith.”
The Post-Quarantine Church: Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation (Hardcover) – Suggestions based on the research of Church Answers to lead a post-Covid congregation.
Proof of Corruption: Bribery, Impeachment, and Pandemic in the Age of Trump (Hardcover) – The third book in the author’s Proof series after Proof of Collusion and Proof of Conspiracy. Focuses on the years from 2015 to early 2020 with examples of corruption from the president and his advisors.