Archives par étiquette : THE WHALEN AGENCY

RACHEL WEISS’S GROUP CHAT de Lauren Appelbaum

Lauren Appelbaum’s debut novel, RACHEL WEISS’S GROUP CHAT, a Jewish, millennial version of Pride and Prejudice with Broad City vibes.

RACHEL WEISS’S GROUP CHAT
by Lauren Appelbaum
Grand Central, September 2024
(via The Whalen Agency)

Rachel Weiss turns 30 this year, and she has it all: a fabulous social life, three best friends, and a job that pays the bills. Unfortunately, she also has a slightly unhinged Jewish mother who’s desperate for her to be married. When a millionaire tech bro named Christopher buys the house next door, Rachel’s mom fixates on him as a match for her daughter. But Rachel has worked in the tech industry for years and she knows guys like Christopher: arrogant, algorithmobsessed capitalist overlords. Besides, she hits it off with a mysterious hottie whose party boy persona appeals to her more than Christopher’s buttoned-up politeness. She doesn’t need her mom’s help. Especially because she has the world’s most amazing group chat with her best friends that gets her through everything.

But when not one, but two, of her friends start ghosting the group chat, she learns those friendships might be shakier than she thought. To make matters worse, she can’t stop bumping into Christopher, who has some history with Rachel’s new boyfriend that one of them seems to be lying about. But spending time with Christopher, who has it all figured out, makes Rachel question what she’s doing with her life. As she watches her friends move on toward the lives they’re building, and her own bad choices catch up with her, Rachel must decide how to build the life she really wants.

Lauren Appelbaum lives in Seattle with her husband and daughter and their two tuxedo cats. She loves iced oat milk lattes, drizzly autumn days, and ending each night snuggled up with a good book. If she can make just one reader laugh, she’ll consider that a win.

IN THE DARK I SEE YOU de Mallika Narayanan

IN THE DARK I SEE YOU is an exciting debut novel of psychological suspense from successful short story writer Mallika Narayanan.

IN THE DARK I SEE YOU
by Mallika Narayanan
Union Square & Co., October 2023
(via The Weis Agency)

When a young woman, Sarah Connelly, is found murdered in her home in New York’s elite Sleepy Point suburb, it triggers questions about the neighbor who discovered the body, Audrey Hughes. This kind of attention is the last thing Audrey wants. Moving to Sleepy Point was supposed to provide her with a new, quiet start after a trauma left her with incurable blindness. But the other reason she settled next door to Sarah was to spy on her. Police scrutiny moves Audrey like a pawn on a chessboard from witness to suspect, after it’s revealed that she had a volatile argument with Sarah hours before her death. The deeper the police delve into the case, the murkier the truth becomes. As the book twists and turns through alternating points of view and timelines, a compelling and complex scheme emerges that threatens all involved . . . and the ticking clock of investigation collides with the explosive secrets Audrey and Sarah have been keeping.

Mallika Narayanan is a Pittsburgh-based writer of psychological suspense, mysteries, and historical fiction. Her short stories are featured in Ellipsis Zine, Bath Flash Fiction, and elsewhere. She was a runner-up in the Retreat West 2022 Flash Fiction Prize and has been longlisted and shortlisted for various other prizes, including the Bath Flash Fiction Prize 2022 and the Fractured Lit Micro Fiction Prize 2021.

THE RUINOUS LOVE TRILOGY de Brynne Weaver

A dark romantic comedy series of interconnected stand-alone novels following the Kane brothers and the murderous women they fall for. Each novel is told in dual POV and concludes with a happy ending.

THE RUINOUS LOVE TRILOGY
by Brynne Weaver
Zando, 2023 – 2024
(via The Whalen Agency)

Book One: BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD (August 2023)

Every serial killer needs a friend.

Every game must have a winner.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country.

But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love.

Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves?

Or have they finally met their match?

Book Two: LEATHER & LARK (February 2024)

Every killer claims a soul.

Every phantom wants revenge.

Contract killer Lachlan Kane just wants a quieter life, to work in his leather studio and forget about the traumatic past that’s forged him into a deadly weapon. But he needs to repay an endless debt, at least until the day his boss offers him a deal: marry Lark Montague, the daughter of his most valued business partner. The only problem?

They can’t stand each other.

Indie singer-songwriter Lark is the sunshine and glitter that burns through every cloud and clings to every crevice that Lachlan tries to hide inside. A rich family, a privileged life, a dearth of responsibilities—Lark has had an easy life. At least, that’s how it seems. But Lark is on the verge of losing her security. And now it’s time to prove she can get control of her haphazard future. What better way than to marry a man who’s the exact opposite of her usual type?

As Lachlan and Lark navigate the intrigue and secrets of the hidden world that binds them together, it becomes harder to discern a fake marriage from a real one. But it’s not just familiar dangers that haunt them.

There’s another phantom lurking on their doorstep.

And this one has come for blood.

Book Three: SCYTHE & SPARROW (September 2024)

Every flight has a landing.

Every circus has a final curtain.

Doctor Fionn Kane is running from a broken heart, one he hopes to mend in small-town Nebraska far away from his former fiancé and his derailed surgical career. It’s a simpler life: head down, work hard, and absolutely no romantic relationships. He wants none of the circus he left behind in Boston.

But the Silveria Circus finds him.

Motorcycle performer Rose Evans has spent a decade on the road with Silveria, and it suits her just fine, especially when she has the urge to indulge in a little murder and mayhem when she’s not in the spotlight. But when a kill goes awry and she ends up with a broken leg, she finds herself stuck in Nebraska at the home of the adorably nerdy town doctor.

The problem is, not every broken heart can be sewn back together.

…And the longer you stay in one place, the more likely your ghosts are to catch up.

Brynne Weaver has been everything from an archaeologist to a deep sea core analyst, an equestrian professional to a specialist in clinical research. She’s traveled the world, taken in more stray animals than her husband would probably prefer, and nurtured her love for both dark comedies and swoon-worthy romances. But during all those adventures, the constant thread in Brynne’s life has been writing. After self-publishing her debut book in 2021, Brynne has since carved a name for herself in the genre of dark romance with eight published works. Her most recent novel, the dark romantic comedy BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD, hit #1 in Romantic Suspense in New Releases on Amazon.

ALL ALONE by Dr. Robert Coplan

In ALL ALONE, Coplan distills over 30 years worth of psychological research on solitude into an accessible, approachable, and endlessly applicable work of popular science.

ALL ALONE
How to Improve Your Relationship with Solitude and Find Your Personal Balance
by Dr. Robert Coplan
Simon & Schuster, early 2025
(via The Whalen Agency)

ALL ALONE works against the myth that being alone is necessarily equivalent to being lonely or being antisocial, instead it argues for an understanding of solitude as a natural, necessary, and beneficial part of a healthy human life. It is a guidebook on how to approach solitude in a healthy way and how to best strike a balance between solitude and socialization at home, in the workplace, in our romantic relationships, as parents, and at different life stages.

After years of people writing passionate essays about the assumed positive value of time alone, it is only in the last few years that researchers have actually been able to produce tangible evidence of such effects. Coplan’s research has contributed to such breakthroughs in the study of solitude including:

• The (somewhat paradoxical) notion that spending time alone helps our relationships with others

• A preliminary finding that spending time alone on your phone can interfere with the positive impacts of solitude

• The finding that children, adolescents, and adults who report that they are not getting enough solitude) tend to report heightened stress, negative moods, and symptoms of depression

• And much more …

In the end, Coplan hopes that by fostering a healthy relationship with solitude, we will come to better understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and our relationship with the world around us.

As a developmental psychologist with over 30 years of experience, Dr. Robert Coplan is a well-established expert in the study of solitude. He has participated in interviews with The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, Vox, Psychology Today, WebMd, and VICE among others and has co-authored five books and hundreds of academic articles on topics ranging from childhood shyness to solitude in adulthood to social withdrawal.

MARE OF NIGHT d’Emma Noyes

First of a YA fantasy romance trilogy by bestselling author of Guy’s Girl Emma Noyes, for fans of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and Norse mythology.

MARE OF NIGHT
(Ragnarok Rising #1)
by Emma Noyes
Wednesday Books, late 2023 TBD
(via The Whalen Agency)

Book 1: MARE OF NIGHT

Charlie Hudson just wants to get through junior year. Since the death of her twin sister two years before, she has drifted through life, robbed of the spark that once burned so brightly within her—until the day her first classmate goes missing. Drawn to the disappearances by forces she can’t explain, Charlie soon finds herself investigating the mysterious, alluring newcomer in town, Elias Everhart. She knows Elias is hiding something, but what she doesn’t know is that those secrets will lead her to a place she never imagined: a world hiding in plain sight, made of magic, gods, and monsters—and a first love fated to fall apart.

Book 2: LIES OF LOKI and Book 3: SINS OF ODIN to follow.

Emma Noyes told her mother she wanted to be an author when she was six. She grew up in a suburb outside Chicago and attended Harvard University, where she studied history & literature. She started her career at a beer company, but left because she wanted to write about mermaids and witches—eventually publishing her first YA fantasy series, The Sunken City. She now lives in Chicago with her Swedish boyfriend and miniature Pomeranian. Guy’s Girl, her adult debut, will publish in October 2023.