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10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED d’Alexis Hall

From Alexis Hall’s breakout Boyfriend Material expanded universe comes a hilarious LGBTQIA+ rom-com about identity, mistaken first impressions, and a serious case of (faux) amnesia.

10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED
(London Calling, Book #3)
by Alexis Hall
Sourcebooks, October 2023

Sam Becker is the manager of the Leeds location of a bed and bath retailer. It’s a pretty great job, all told; management suits him, and his staff adore him, not least because he places a high value on making the store a humane place to work. Too bad, then, that the owner is a thoroughly intimidating jerk.
Jonathan Forest should never have hired Sam Becker in the first place. It was a sentimental decision—he saw something in the sunny young Northerner—and Jonathan did not get to where he is by following his heart. Trying to fix the situation, Jonathan orders Sam down to the Croydon branch for a difficult talk…only for Sam (panicked at the idea of a confrontation with the surly owner) to bump his head and, well, pretend he doesn’t remember anything?
Faking amnesia seemed like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but now Sam has to deal with the very real reality of Jonathan’s guilt—and the unexpected new sides of the surly man he never thought he’d see. There’s an unexpected freedom in getting a second shot at a first impression…but as Sam and Jonathan grow closer, can Sam really bring himself to tell the truth, or will their future be built entirely on one impulsive lie?

Previous books in the series:

Alexis Hall writes books in the southeast of England, where he lives entirely on a diet of tea and Jaffa Cakes. You can find him at http://www.quicunquevult.com, on Twitter @quicunquevult, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/quicunquevult.

THE VIKING HEART d’Arthur Herman

From a New York Times best-selling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist, a sweeping epic of how the Vikings and their descendants have shaped history and America.

THE VIKING HEART:
How Scandinavians Conquered the World
by Arthur Herman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, August 2021
(via Javelin)

Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers—including the most famous, the Vikings—would reshape Europe and beyond. Their ingenuity, daring, resiliency, and loyalty to family and community would propel them to the gates of Rome, the steppes of Russia, the courts of Constantinople, and the castles of England and Ireland. But nowhere would they leave a deeper mark than across the Atlantic, where the Vikings’ legacy would become the American Dream.
In THE VIKING HEART, Arthur Herman melds a compelling historical narrative with cutting-edge archaeological and DNA research to trace the epic story of this remarkable and diverse people. He shows how the Scandinavian experience has universal meaning, and how we can still be inspired by their indomitable spirit.

“Heroic battles, sea adventures, empires rising and falling, voyages of discovery, and archaeological detective work— THE VIKING HEART shines brilliantly with them all. Arthur Herman triumphs with a stirring investigation of the Scandinavian influence on our times, both past and present. You won’t look at the world the same way again.”—Neal Bascomb, New York Times best-selling author of The Winter Fortress

Arthur Herman, PhD, is the author of the New York Times bestseller How the Scots Invented the Modern World, which has sold a half-million copies worldwide, and Gandhi and Churchill, which was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His six other books include To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, which was nominated for the UK’s prestigious Mountbatten Maritime Prize; Freedom’s Forge, named by the Economist as one of the Best Books of 2012; and Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC.

KALEIDOSCOPE de Cecily Wong

A dazzling and heartfelt novel about two sisters caught in their parents’ ambition, the accident that brings it all crashing down, and the journey that follows, as the remaining daughter of a fashion empire sets out across the globe to challenge the stories that have always defined her.

KALEIDOSCOPE
by Cecily Wong
Dutton, Summer 2022
(via Defiore & Company)

Everybody’s heard of The Brightons. From rags to riches, sleepy Oregon to haute New York, they are the half-Chinese family that built Kaleidoscope, a glittering, ‘global bohemian’ shopping empire sourcing luxury goods from India and beyond. Statuesque, design savant, and family pet—eldest daughter Morgan Brighton is most celebrated of all. Yet despite her favored status, both within the family and in the press, nobody loves her more than Riley. Smart and nervy Riley Brighton — whose existence is forever eclipsed by her older sister’s presence. When a catastrophic event dismantles the Brightons’ world, it is Riley who’s left with questions about her family that challenge her memory, identity, and loyalty. She sets off across the globe with an unlikely companion to seek truths about the people she thought she knew best —herself included.
Using the brightly colored, shifting mosaic patterns of a kaleidoscope as its guide, and told in arresting, addictive fragments, KALEIDOSCOPE is at once a reckoning with one family’s flawed American Dream, and an examination of the precious bond between sisters. It reveals, too, the different kinds of love left to grow when tightly held stories are finally let go. At turns devastating and funny, warm and wise, sexy and transportive, Riley’s journey confronts the meaning of freedom and travel, youth and innocence, and what it looks like to belong, grieve, and love on one’s own terms.

Cecily Wong is the author of the novel Diamond Head, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, the recipient of an Elle Readers’ Prize, and voted a best debut of the Brooklyn Book Festival. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, Self Magazine, Bustle, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Barnard College and lives in New York, where she is a writer at Atlas Obscura.

ODD GODS: THE ODDYSSEY de David Slavin, illustré par Adam J.B. Lane

Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets Percy Jackson in ODD GODS, the critically acclaimed and hilarious illustrated series about the middle-school gods you never hear about in myths. In book two, Oddonis must embark on the strangest odyssey ever to save Zeus from the world’s cutest curse.

ODD GODS: THE ODDYSSEY
Odd Gods Book 2
by David Slavin, illustrated by Adam J.B. Lane
HarperCollins Children’s, February 2020
(chez DeFiore and Co. – voir catalogue)

Sometimes it feels like Oddonis can’t do anything right. Especially compared to his literally perfect twin brother, Adonis. But this time, Oddonis has really messed up by accidentally turning his father, the all-powerful king of the gods, Zeus, into a giant baby. Now it’s up to Oddonis to assemble a team of his odd friends—Mathena, Gaseous, and Puneous—and journey to the underworld to get the curse reversed. Along the way, Oddonis will have to overcome a series of dangerous obstacles, his obnoxious brother, his own self-doubt, and the horrible scents of his best friend Gaseous. Can Gods as unlikely, unusual, and unheroic as Oddonis and his friends really save the day? Get ready to overcome the odds in the second hilarious book about the Odd Gods from author David Slavin, filled with dozens of black-and-white illustrations by award-winning artist Adam Lane.

David Slavin is the author of the popular illustrated middle-grade Odd Gods series. His cultural and political commentary has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, and the Huffington Post, and he was a regular contributor—as both a writer and performer—to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered for over a decade. David has also been a voiceover artist for over 20 years, lending his voice to hundreds of radio and television commercials, numerous audiobooks, and narrations for PBS, National Geographic, the BBC, and The Late Show with David Letterman. He lives in New York City with his wife, two children, sight-challenged dog, and noisy bird.
Adam J.B. Lane was born in London and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied, in the loosest sense of that word, at Harvard University and the California Institute of the Arts. He has labored for the Walt Disney Company, seen his animation appear on MTV, and authored two previous picture books for children, Monsters Party All Night Long and Stop Thief! In his spare time he draws comics for The Boston Globe.

THE SHADOWS de Stacy Willingham

A psychological thriller executed to perfection with darkly nuanced textures, rich characterization and an instantly-arresting voice combined with the sort of wonderfully twisty commercial plotting that so energized The Silent Patient and The Woman in the Window.

THE SHADOWS
by Stacy Willingham
Macmillan, February 2022

THE SHADOWS is the story of Chloe Davis, a psychologist coming up on the 20th anniversary of the event that destroyed her family: the day when, as a 12 year old, she found a critical piece of evidence that proved her father was a serial killer, and which would lead to his being convicted for the murders of six teenage girls. And while the freight of those events has followed her like a shadow ever since, it’s also the thing she has spent her entire adult life fighting and overcoming. Now 32, Chloe seems to have won. She has built a thriving practice as a psychologist in Baton Rouge, (using her own childhood trauma to help other young, troubled girls), fostered a rich community of friends, has even managed to work through her trust issues, and is engaged to be married to a loving and supportive partner. But behind those hopeful outlines of a normal, happy life lurk paranoia, unhealthy choices, and the steady ticking of dread that, at any moment, Chloe’s carefully-constructed equilibrium might come crashing down around her… And on the eve of that 20th anniversary, it does…

Stacy Willingham is 29. She studied journalism at the University of Georgia and holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art & Design.