New Adult Non-Fiction

"Hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and inspiring, Conversations in Black by Ed Gordon offers sage wisdom for navigating race in a radically divisive America and, with help from his mighty team of black intelligentsia, veteran journalist Ed Gordon creates hope and a timeless narrative on what the future of black leadership should look like and how we can get there. In Conversations in Black, Gordon brings together some of the most prominent voices in Black America today, including Stacey Abrams, Harry Belafonte, Charlamagne tha God, Michael Eric Dyson, Alicia Garza, Jemele Hill, Iyanla VanZant, Eric Holder, Killer Mike, Angela Rye, Al Sharpton, T.I., and Maxine Waters, and so many more to answer questions about vital topics affecting our nation today, such as:

•     Will the black vote control the 2020 election?
•     Do black lives really matter?
•     After Obama's presidency, are black people better off?
•     Are stereotypical images of people of color changing in Hollywood?
•     How is "Black Girl Magic" changing the face of black America?

We are bombarded with media, music, and social media messages that enforce stereotypes of people of color. In this groundbreaking book, Gordon sets out to clarify what black power and excellence really look like -- and shows everyone the way forward into a new age of prosperity and pride." (from Amazon.com)

Blood, Sweat, & Tears: Jake Gaither, Floriday A&M, and the History of Black College Football is by Derrick E. White."Black college football began during the nadir of African American life after the Civil War. The first game occurred in 1892, a little less than four years before the Supreme Court ruled segregation legal in Plessy v. Ferguson. In spite of Jim Crow segregation, Black colleges produced some of the best football programs in the country. They mentored young men who became teachers, preachers, lawyers, and doctors--not to mention many other professions--and transformed Black communities. But when higher education was integrated, the programs faced existential challenges as predominately white institutions steadily set about recruiting their student athletes and hiring their coaches. Blood, Sweat, and Tears explores the legacy of Black college football, with Florida A&M's Jake Gaither as its central character, one of the most successful coaches in its history. A paradoxical figure, Gaither led one of the most respected Black college football programs, yet many questioned his loyalties during the height of the civil rights movement. Among the first broad-based histories of Black college athletics, Derrick E. White's sweeping story complicates the heroic narrative of integration and grapples with the complexities and contradictions of one of the most important sources of Black pride in the twentieth century." (from Amazon.com)

Steve Inskeep tells the riveting story of John and Jessie Frémont in Imperfect Union. "John C. Frémont, one of the United States’s leading explorers of the nineteenth century, was relatively unknown in 1842, when he commanded the first of his expeditions to the uncharted West. But in only a few years, he was one of the most acclaimed people of the age – known as a wilderness explorer, bestselling writer, gallant army officer, and latter-day conquistador, who in 1846 began the United States’s takeover of California from Mexico. He was not even 40 years old when Americans began naming mountains and towns after him. He had perfect timing, exploring the West just as it captured the nation’s attention. But the most important factor in his fame may have been the person who made it all possible: his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont.  Jessie, the daughter of a United States senator who was deeply involved in the West, provided her husband with entrée to the highest levels of government and media, and his career reached new heights only a few months after their elopement. During a time when women were allowed to make few choices for themselves, Jessie – who herself aspired to roles in exploration and politics – threw her skill and passion into promoting her husband. She worked to carefully edit and publicize his accounts of his travels, attracted talented young men to his circle, and lashed out at his enemies. She became her husband’s political adviser, as well as a power player in her own right. In 1856, the famous couple strategized as John became the first-ever presidential nominee of the newly established Republican Party. With rare detail and in consummate style, Steve Inskeep tells the story of a couple whose joint ambitions and talents intertwined with those of the nascent United States itself. Taking advantage of expanding news media, aided by an increasingly literate public, the two linked their names to the three great national movements of the time—westward settlement, women’s rights, and opposition to slavery. Together, John and Jessie Frémont took parts in events that defined the country and gave rise to a new, more global America. Theirs is a surprisingly modern tale of ambition and fame; they lived in a time of social and technological disruption and divisive politics that foreshadowed our own. In Imperfect Union, as Inskeep navigates these deeply transformative years through Jessie and John’s own union, he reveals how the Frémonts’ adventures amount to nothing less than a tour of the early American soul." (from Amazon.com)

New Adult Fiction

In The Seekers by Heather Graham, Kerri Wolf has joined the crew of The Seekers, a show that searches for paranormal phenomena, as they explore a supposedly haunted old inn on the road between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The place is famous for its warm welcome-and infamous for being the site of an ax murder rampage in the 1920s. They've barely begun when a very real dead body is discovered in the basement. As a nonfiction author, Kerri is supposed to be the rational one, but she can't explain a terrifying apparition that seems to be both a threat and a warning. Former detective Joe Dunhill knows what she's going through-the strange gift of being able to see and talk to the dead is a struggle he shares. A new member of the FBI's Krewe of Hunters, he's on the team investigating the disturbing death. The town is steeped in old-fashioned superstition, and the deeper Joe and Kerri plunge into the dark secrets of the inn, the closer they get to a devastating truth. Will a bloody history be repeated? Or can the spirits of the past reach out to stop a killer?

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett takes place at the end of the Second World War. Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. Cyril's son Danny and his older sister Maeve are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they must count on is one another.

Lethal Game is by Christine Feehan (RBdigital only). When Malichai Fortunes attacks a problem, he does so full force; a habit that earns the GhostWalker a painful injury and a forced vacation in San Diego, California. With nothing but physical therapy on the horizon, Malichai is starting to get restless ' until a striking blue-eyed blonde makes all his senses come alive. Amaryllis is kind and warm and sees beyond Malichai's rough exterior, but he can tell there's something she's hiding. Her innate healing abilities indicate she might be a GhostWalker--albeit an untrained one. Malichai doesn't think their paths crossing is anything more than coincidence, but he can sense that one wrong word could send Amaryllis running. When strange events at his temporary retreat put Malichai on high alert, he knows he won't be able to deal with the threat and keep his woman safe in his weakened state. But calling in his brothers means telling Amaryllis what he really is and revealing that he knows the truth about her too.

Blood of Elves by Anzej Sapkowski (RBdigital only). “Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves.” For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf. Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as The Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world - for good, or for evil. As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all--and the Witcher never accepts defeat.

The Vanishing is the newest from Jayne Ann Krentz. Decades ago, in the small town of Fogg Lake, "The Incident" occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases. The residents slept for two days. When they woke up, they discovered that things had changed--they had changed. Some started having visions. Others heard ominous voices. And then the scientists from a mysterious government agency arrived. Determined not to become research subjects of strange experiments, the residents of Fogg Lake blamed the "hallucinations" on food poisoning, and the story worked. But now it has become apparent that the eerie effects of The Incident are showing up in the descendants of Fogg Lake. Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair, best friends and co-owners of an investigation firm in Seattle, use what they call their "other sight" to help solve cases. When Olivia suddenly vanishes one night, Cat frantically begins the search for her friend. No one takes the disappearance seriously except Slate Arganbright, an agent from a shadowy organization known only as The Foundation, who shows up at her firm with a cryptic warning. A ruthless killer is hunting the only witnesses to a murder that occurred in the Fogg Lake caves fourteen years ago--Catalina and Olivia. And someone intends to make both women vanish.

Penne Dreadful is a cozy by Catherine Bruns (RBdigital only). Tomato sauce isn't the only thing that runs red. Local chef Tessa Esposito is struggling to get back on her feet following her husband's fatal accident. And when the police knock on Tessa's door, things just get worse. They've discovered Dylan's death wasn't an accident after all, and they need Tessa to start filling in the blanks. Who would want her beloved husband dead, and why' With the investigation running cold, Tessa decides it's time to save her sanity by reconnecting with her first love—cooking. Maybe the best way back into the kitchen is to infiltrate Dylan's favorite local pizza parlor, which also happens to be the last place he was seen before he died. But the anchovies aren't the only thing that stink inside the small family business, and with suspects around every corner, Tessa finds that her husband's many secrets might land her in hot water.

New Adult Fiction: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

The Harp of Kings is a Warrior Bards Novel by Juliet Marillier. Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player and, at eighteen, she is eager to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. Her brother has a voice that can melt the coldest of hearts and he has a rare talent for the harp. The siblings train together and compete for their place on the elite fighting force. Their unusual skills make them ideal for undercover work as traveling minstrels. Liobhan and her brother are tasked with finding and retrieving a precious harp that symbolizes kingship. If the instrument is not played during the next coronation, then the heir will not be accepted, and the kingdom will be thrown into disarray. Faced with plotting courtiers, tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a vulgar crown prince, Liobhan begins to suspect otherworldly forces meddling in human affairs.

Fortuna is the first in a new space opera trilogy by Kristyn Merbeth. Scorpia Kaiser seems to be living in her brother Corvus’ shadow until the day he abandons their family to participate in a profitless war. However, becoming the heir to her mother’s smuggling operation is not an easy transition for the rebellious, usually reckless, and sometime drunk pilot of the Fortuna. The aging cargo ship is the only home Scorpia has ever known, but her plans for taking over the family business is interrupted when Corvus returns from the war and a deal goes south. Now, the Kaiser siblings are forced to make a choice: take responsibility for their family’s involvement in a massacre or lie low and hope it all blows over. Too bad Scorpia doesn’t back down from a fight.

Deborah Hewitt delivers a magical romp with The Nightjar. Alice seems to be haunted by visions of birds. These have been with her all her life, but one day a mysterious stranger named Crowley appears at her door. He tells her that she is seeing nightjars—the miraculous birds that guard our souls. It turns out that a shadowy faction wants to use Alice’s gift to seek out those who are magically gifted. Now on the run, Alice follows Crowley into an incredible alternate London that exists alongside her own modern city. There she learns to hone her talents, but she cannot be sure that Crowley is trustworthy. She will risk everything to navigate the dangerous world of magic, marvels, and death cults.

 

The Nothing Within by Andy Giesler is a rural dystopian novel exploring post-apocalyptic Amish country. Would you commit an unforgivable sin to save the world? In the year 2161, the first chimera arose. A year later, twelve billion people are dead and the few who survived called it the Reckoning. Their descendants hide within the walls of small, rustic villages, hiding in fear from the chimeras. They revere tradition and eschew innovation. They especially mistrust anything that is different. Root couldn’t be more different and, although, she is frustrated with wall-bound life, she grudgingly accepts it—until she hears a voice that no one else can hear. This is where Root’s journey will take her into the wilds to discover the truth: that her world has been twisted by the very people trying to save it.

Melinda Rucker Haynes delivers rip-roaring novel with Bitten: Confessions of a Menopausal Vampire. Kristen’s fiancé, Rick pulls a Houdini and disappears. Years later, her husband deserts her for a younger woman. Kristen is disgusted with life itself and is menopausal to boot. When Rick comes sweeping back into her life still young and handsome, she accepts a date with him. Blame it on the raging hormones, but she wakes up in the morgue as an illegally made vampire. Now, Rick must hide his mistake, or everyone dies. Kristen refuses to go quietly into the dark and undead underground. Because of her age, lack of estrogen, and other physical and mental anomalies, she is an unusually powerful vampire with none of the normal limitations. Time to take on that bucket list of people who have done her wrong...

 

Realm of Ash is a fantasy novel by Tasha Suri. The Ambhan Empire is crumbling, and a terrible war of succession lingers on the horizon. The only hope lies in the realm of ash, where mortals can find what they seek in the echoes of their ancestors’ dreams. But the price to be paid when walking there is a steep one. Arwa is determined to make the journey. Widowed by a brutal massacre, she has pledged allegiance to the royal family and is determined to see the pledge through. She is joined by Zahir, the disgraced, illegitimate prince who has turned to forbidden magic in his desperate struggle to save his loved ones. Their shared past lies along a bloody path and it will call into question all they believe—including whether the Empire is worth saving at all.