Hachette Library – Starred Reviews
★The Rocky Mountain Native Plant Primer
By: Lauren Springer and Bryan Fischer
Booklist- Starred Review
While this thoughtful guide ostensibly covers the Rocky Mountain West, its range encompasses more than a dozen states, from Nevada east into Kansas, and from the Texas panhandle north to the Canadian border. Because this region is hit hard by drought, a transition from non-native
to native plants in home gardens isn’t just common sense, it’s existential. Following a discussion of key elements in growing natives—regional “biomes,” hardiness zones, soils, sunlight, wind, moisture “inputs,” and even wildfire potential—plants are grouped by short-lived wildflowers,
long-lived wildflowers, grasses, cacti and yuccas, shrubs, and trees. Entries for each of the 225 plants are thorough, each including scientific name, common name, hardiness zones and landscapes where they best thrive, square footage required, light and water needs, wildlife served, propagation, and best companion plants. Also included is a pertinent 200-word discussion of the plant, along with a color photo. All the photos here, which are plentiful and quite serviceable, were taken by the authors, who are both experienced, Colorado-based horticulturists. Highly recommended for gardeners living in the vast region covered here.
Timber Press: April 7th, 2026; ISBN: 9781643263649 Paperback
★Treat Them as Buffalo
By: Blair Palmer Yoxall
Booklist- Starred Review
Yoxall’s stunning debut novel is a western told from an Indigenous perspective. During the 1885 North-West Resistance, the Métis community of Lac-aux-Trois-Pistoles, Saskatchewan, is rocked by the disappearance of a growing number of Métis boys, including Nikosis Erikson’s cousin, Guillaume. When the town police prove unwilling to help, 12-year-old Niko, his mother, and his aunt join members of the Pussy Posse, led by notorious local rancher Kate McCannon. They are determined to take matters into their own hands and find the missing boys. As they get closer to the truth, however, Niko discovers that the disappearances are closely connected to a violent chapter in his own family history. In lyrical prose, Indigenous Voices Award-nominated poet and writer Yoxall, himself a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta, vividly renders a young Indigenous boy’s coming of age. Fans of unconventional westerns like The Sisters Brothers 2011) by Patrick deWitt and Outlawed (2021) by Anna North will appreciate Yoxall’s subversion of western tropes, while fans of Indigenous literary fiction from Stephen Graham Jones, Jessica Johns, and Tommy Orange will celebrate the arrival of a powerful new voice.
Algonquin: May 5th, 2026; ISBN: 9781643756806 Paperback
★What’s Going Right
By: Paul Cont
Booklist- Starred Review
The health of the mind is finally getting its due. Conti, a high-profile psychiatrist, wants to help people figure out the answers to two fundamental questions: “Who are you?” and “Who could you be?” At age 20, Conti’s younger brother killed himself with his father’s pistol. Conti blamed himself until he eventually found a skilled therapist; now he observes that the default way of approaching mental health skews toward the negative. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders runs to 1,120 pages. He prefers to focus on what’s going right, so people feel empowered, joyful, and fulfilled. Conti promotes self-reflection and compassionate curiosity. In one case, he helps a patient who identified himself solely as an alcoholic see that he was blaming himself and feeling shame for not defending his mom from his abusive father. Instead of
seeing themselves as failures, people can write a “life narrative” that looks at hard-won lessons and triumphs. Conti poses other guiding questions: “What delights you?” “What’s going right in your life?” “When were you last awed by someone or something?” People can learn how to steer
themselves where they wish to go. Conti teaches important lessons about love, generosity, relationships, community, hope, kindness, mentorship, and securing a happy, meaningful life.
Balance: May 5th, 2026; ISBN: 9781538776049 Hardcover
★The Last Contract of Isako
By: Fonda Lee
Booklist- Starred Review
Following her division’s defeat in an intracompany war that resulted in her delivering 200 termination notices, atier Isthmus Isako, a combination of advisor and sometime-assassin, finds herself suddenly reassigned to the director of the opposing division after watching her boss resign. On the planet Aquilo, a colony long since disconnected from Earth, resigning means stepping outside the airshield—with a severance payout going to the surviving kithfamily members. Isako’s subsequent offer to resign is stalled by one final contract: prevent her deceased boss’ rival from ascending to the Board of Directors by any means possible. This
contract leads Isako on an adventure involving a former partner turned ronin, a former apprentice working for an unconventional director, assassination attempts, and planet-altering secrets, shattering Isako’s idealized view of both their civilization and her role as atier. Lee’s (Untethered Sky, 2023) layered world building and surprising twists in this unusual dystopian setting will keep readers on edge as Isako moves from her years-long, work-obsessed isolation to reconnecting with family and friends prior to her (planned) demise. This standalone samurai sf stands out.
Orbit: May 5th, 2026; ISBN: 9780316568654 Hardcover
★Ironwood
By: Michael Connelly
Booklist- Starred Review
“Small island, big crime,” says Detective Sergeant Stilwell about his turf on Catalina, just a short ferry ride from L.A. All the characters and dynamics introduced in Connelly’s first Catalina novel, Nightshade (2025), are in full swing here as a cluster of crimes erupts, and Stil persists in disobeying orders to follow his hunches. A new deputy is killed and another badly injured when a drug-deal stakeout goes catastrophically wrong. Barred from investigating and told to clean up the station’s overflowing lost and found, Stil gets curious about an abandoned backpack and finds himself involved with a cold case overseen by LAPD Detective Renée Ballard, a character from one of Connelly’s previous series. Stil’s tenacity, keen instincts, dread, tenderheartedness, and pragmatism—he knows just how to deal with a scheming vintner and a kid who graffitied the island’s landmarks—make for an entertaining and admirable hero, while Catalina, with its colorful history, “fragile ecosystems,” and busy harbor, overseen by Tash, Stil’s lover, is an evermore intriguing setting. Connelly is at his most polished and incisive here, with crackling dialogue, complex investigations, tricky relationships, escalating suspense, and dogged and inspired sleuthing by a principled, rule-breaking hero. The satisfying ending promises more enthralling episodes on the horizon.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Connelly fans will be avidly seeking the second in his Catalina series.
Little, Brown: May 19th, 2026; ISBN: 9780316595384 Hardcover
★A Kiss of Crimson Ash
By: Michael Connelly
Booklist- Starred Review
Taara lives in the Samjayan empire. She’s a sheltered princess of Abhaya who has recently become queen due to her mother’s sudden, mysterious illness. Garjan, the handsome prince of neighboring Nandapore, is on his way to marry Taara, although this is not a match made of love
but of strategy. Garjan leaves behind his true love, Bhediya, a beautiful courtesan with a secret magic, and his friend Roland, a thief with an uncanny ability to disappear. Within the empire, dark forces are at work as powerful men plot to take magic meant for the gods. Unbeknownst to them, it will be up to these four to prevent the destruction of the world as they know it. Varghese’s debut, the first in a proposed medieval Indian-inspired romantasy trilogy, is an enthralling, heart-racing tale full of magic, mystery, romance, and spicy scenes that will make readers’ toes curl.
Interwoven in the atmospheric world building are themes such as racism and misogyny, balanced with themes of finding oneself and queer love. An absolute must-read for any romantasy fan.
Orbit: May 26th, 2026; ISBN: 9780316591843 Paperback
★The Adventures of Juan Planchard
By: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Booklist- Starred Review
Renowned Venezuelan filmmaker and novelist Jakubowicz grafts thriller twists and turns onto this traditional picaresque novel, originally published in Spanish in 2016. Juan Planchard is a typical antihero, a wry social commentator exploiting whomever he comes across in his wideranging travels through high and low society in Caracas, L.A., and New York City. Twenty-nineyear-old Planchard has made a fortune from Venezuela’s social and political upheavals and selfidentifies as a cokehead, sex addict, and financial predator. But at the novel’s start, debauchery has exhausted Planchard (and may exhaust readers, too). Enter Scarlet, a gorgeous UCLA psych major who cracks open Juan’s parched soul. Juan is fully in love, redeemed, and may be in great danger of losing everything. The thriller element starts building in the form of direct messages on Twitter from Scarlet’s ex-boyfriend, who blackmails Scarlet and poses a threat to Planchard. Jakubowicz identifies this as historical fiction, set in 2011 under Chávez, but it’s primarily a love story. Although the language is often florid and the sex scenes overdone, the historical setting, adept plotting, and use of Planchard as cynical guide to the underworld who is transformed by love, make this an intriguing read.
Grand Central : June 2nd, 2026; ISBN: 9781538779781 Hardcover
★Alan Opts Out
By: Courtney Maum
Booklist- Starred Review
Set in a picture-perfect stretch of suburban Connecticut, Maum’s newest novel (after her memoir, The Year of the Horses, 2022) moves quickly and leans into sharp observations of the American dream. Viv and Alan live an orderly, successful life until Alan, an advertising executive, abruptly decides to opt out of modern comforts and live off the land in their backyard. He sets up camp in their daughters’ playhouse and adopts a pet lobster. At the same time, Viv focuses on gaining entry into the town’s most exclusive women’s group, the Queen Annes. As Alan’s experiment grows more serious and Viv’s plans begin to unravel, imperfections beneath the town and its residents’ polished exteriors start to show. Maum uses neighborhood social media group discourse to spotlight unhealthy habits and quiet social competitions, drawing attention to self-help podcasts playing on repeat, stacks of Amazon packages, and the careful routines that shape suburban life. Witty dialogue between characters alongside the internal monologues of Alan and Viv highlight the absurdities of consumer culture and social status. Maum’s writing relies on humor and quick pacing to examine consumption, ambition, and social performance, presenting a study of suburban life that questions the cost of success and perfection.
Little, Brown: June 2nd, 2026; ISBN: 9780316599108 Hardcover
★All the Feels
By:Pamela Pavliscak
Booklist- Starred Review
There has been plenty of writing (and, of course, YouTube vlogs and TikTok dissertations) on the deleterious effects of being perpetually logged on and how being hyper-connected online has led to pervasive loneliness and the breakdown of engaged in-person interaction. Pavliscak has been
studying the emotional patterns of our shared digital lives for years, and her research has shown that, while there are plenty of concerning outcomes of digital-forward life, there are also many opportunities for emotional growth. Here she distills thousands of interviews and digital diaries she has collected from a range of netizens to arrive at a nuanced portrait of our shared online life. Chapters focus on an action concept (amplify, augment, awaken) and how we can act with these intentions in mind to operate with more authenticity online. Covering our personal
relationships with AI to like buttons, Pavliscak writes with measured alacrity for finding the positives as well as offering advice on how to navigate the negatives. Parents raising digital natives will be especially encouraged by Pavliscak’s findings as they themselves work through
their own smartphone reliance. Readers interested in the effects of our increased reliance on digital spaces will find food for thought here.
Algonquin: June 9th, 2026; ISBN: 9781643753966 Hardcover
★The Summer Fun Massacre
By: Craig DiLouie
Booklist- Starred Review
The slasher is a horror mainstay precisely because readers love to follow authors as they dole out the subgenre beats while finding novel ways to scare them. Some, like Grady Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group (2021) or Stephen Graham Jones’ I Was a Teenaged Slasher (2024),
actively mine the well-trod trope for new angles, crafting stories that raise the bar for the entire subgenre. DiLouie’s latest falls into this category, presenting a summer camp slasher that introduces readers to two memorable final girls, but flips the script by narrating it through the
eyes of the deputy who (always) arrives too late, and bumbles the investigation throughout. Back in 1983, Tom was dating camp counselor Mary when the Hungry Hare came out of the forest and killed everyone but her. Now in 1992, he is the officer on duty, arriving to find Laura covered in blood, the sole survivor of another horrific camp massacre. The key point-of-view switch puts readers on immediate notice, and DiLouie rewards their attention with an exciting and original slasher featuring a terrifying folk horror twist that will drive fans to sign up for the promised
second session of Summer Fun Camp in droves.
Run For It: June 16th, 2026; ISBN: 9780316578240 Paperback
★A Horse’s World
By: Janet L. Jones
Booklist- Starred Review
Following Horse Brain, Human Brain (2020) a primer laying out the neuroscience of horsemanship for anyone working with equines, veteran trainer Jones, who has a PhD in cognitive science, here plumbs even more deeply the unlikely, nearly inviolate bond between horse (prey, by nature) and trainer (predator, by nature) by walking readers through her own six year experience working with a young gelding, True North (or just True). From his first steps out of his trailer—”an awkward young boy with clown feet, toothpick legs, a beer belly, and a puny chest”—True transformed into a gloriously massive, fully matured adult, “well mannered, high spirited, and openly expressive—exactly as I hoped he would become.” With gentle humor, almost bottomless compassion, and keen observational skills, Jones guides readers through the thoughtful, loving process by which she and True first develop trust in one another, then slowly amalgamate their discrete skills into a formidable dyad. “Ironically,” Jones writes, “this conjoined mind operates well not because the two brains are similar to each other, but because they are so different.” This account of one horse’s coming-of-age will deeply touch audiences far beyond the horse-riding community.
Little, Brown: June 23rd, 2026; ISBN: 9780316582582 Hardcover
★The Tinder Box
By: M. R. Carey
Booklist- Starred Review
A witch and a former soldier are drawn into the neverending fight between Heaven and Hell. After being wounded, soldier Magnus is discharged from the army. With little money, Mag ends up at the home of widow Jannae Mirchella. Jannae offers Mag shelter and a wage in exchange for him fixing her dilapidated house. However, Mag soon discovers that Jannae is no ordinary widow; she’s a witch. Shortly thereafter, a demon falls out of the sky into Jannae’s yard. After searching the body at Jannae’s behest, Mag brings her all that he uncovers, except for a tinder box. After fleeing from Jannae, Mag discovers its power: the owner of the tinder box can use it to
summon three demons, who are bound to the tinder box and must follow any command given by its owner. Mag soon finds himself pursued by Jannae, the King’s warlock, and angels. Carey (Outlaw Planet, 2025) deftly handles issues of morality, religion, and justice while still keeping this
fantasy adventure moving. Shifting points of view allow readers to see the ambiguities in the usually binary battle of good versus evil. Fantasy fans—especially of Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils (2025)—will love Carey’s updated version of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
Orbit: June 23rd, 2026; ISBN: 9780316595490 Paperback
★Main Characters
By: Bobby Palmer
Booklist- Starred Review
Clara Cowan is an aspiring director with an on-again, off-again boyfriend when she meets Seb Bonami. Seb works at a pub, is a drummer in a band with his best friends, and is always accompanied by his dog, Jasper. Their romance spans decades, from nights at punk shows in London to finding an apartment together to working on movie sets as Clara’s career takes off.
Seb and Clara strive to create the lives they want for themselves and each other. Palmer creates a unique structure to tell a decades-long, heart-wrenching love story. Though the novel follows Clara and Seb, each chapter is told from the perspective of a side character in their lives. Palmer deftly conjures fully realized baristas, coworkers, best friends, and others who see snippets of the lead characters’ lives and choices. The shifting points of view allow the reader to feel at times voyeuristic and at times quite close to Seb and Clara. Readers who enjoyed Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo (2024) will love following these characters through their lives as they figure out how to live and to love each other.
Little, Brown: June 30th, 2026; ISBN: 9780316599139 Hardcover
★A Neighbor’s Guide to Murder
By: Louise Candlish
Booklist- Starred Review
Seventy-something Gwen Healy is well-intentioned but has an unfortunate tendency to misread people and situations. She’s also desperate to have friends and fit in, no doubt partly because of the embarrassment and reputational impact of her now ex-husband’s conviction for embezzling
from the charity they co-ran. Gwen has put her life back together and now lives in a lovely flat. But things change when twenty-something Pixie moves in across the hall under the government’s Rent-a-Room scheme to help those struggling to afford accommodation in London’s pricey housing market. Declaring herself Pixie’s friend, Gwen soon learns that Pixie
pays rent to her landlord in sex, not cash. Horrified, Gwen launches a campaign to save Pixie and the growing number of other women who have fallen prey to similar abuse. Things quickly spiral out of control, and Gwen is caught in a situation that is both hurtful and potentially
dangerous to her mental, emotional, and financial health as unfounded accusations, disastrous errors, and escalating tension turn things very dark. The sense of impending disaster ratchets up
to an almost unbearable level in this tense, dark, roller-coaster ride of a story that will keep readers on edge until the utterly shocking end. Compelling, twist-filled, and brilliant.
Grand Central: July 7th, 2026; ISBN: 9781538778111 Paperback
★Blow by Blow
By: Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill
Booklist- Starred Review
As related in this superb biography, after playing before 60,000 delirious fans at a concert in England, guitarist Jeff Beck walked offstage, looked at an exec with his record company, Epic, and said flatly, “I suck.” Whereupon the exec marched Beck back onstage and said, “This guythinks he sucks.” M ore delirium ensued. Throughout Beck’s long, productive, mercurial, yet
always dazzlirightng career—from the groundbreaking Yardbirds in the mid-sixties through collaborations with some of the most impactful figures in mid-twentieth-century popular music tohis sudden death in 2023 at age 78 —it was this brutal self-candor, indifference to popular opinion, and unending quest for sonic perfection that made Beck arguably the most
accomplished among such guitar heroes as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Carlos Santana. It also made for famously testy relations with nearly all of his collaborators. Tolinski and Gill—longtime editor-in-chief and regular contributor, respectively, for Guitar World magazine—deftly lay out every step in Beck’s contentious, labyrinthine path to greatness while folding in critical information on the hardware Beck used to achieve his otherworldly sound, from guitars to amps, speakers, and special-effects devices. This fulsome biography will have special appeal for guitar enthusiasts, but Beck’s life and music will be a revelation to general audiences.
Da Capo: July 9th, 2026; ISBN: 9780306836589 Hardcover
★Steelborn
By: Taylor J. LaRue
Library Journal
Reya Connery plans to pull off one final job as the infamous Crimson Thief before leaving her criminal life behind. At first, everything goes according to plan, but during the mission, Reya makes a risky decision that costs her employer money. Furious over the lost payment, her employer gives Reya an ultimatum: repay the missing reward within 60 days or spend the next 10 years working off her debt. Desperate to find a way to repay the money, Reya crosses paths with the intimidating Caelan Halcyon. Caelan is racing against time, suffering from a deadly curse that is killing him slowly. He needs Reya’s skills to steal a rare cure that could save his life. Caelan leaves her little choice, but Reya agrees to help. Their mission becomes far more complicated than expected, and the cure proves difficult to obtain. Meanwhile, Reya struggles to keep a dangerous secret she has hidden since her parents’ deaths. As Caelan begins to uncover the truth, trust and attraction slowly grow between them. With Caelan’s life fading and the stakes rising, both must decide how far they are willing to go to achieve their goals.
VERDICT: Full of unexpected turns and rich adventure, LaRue’s debut fantasy story is a truly memorable read.
Requited: August 4th, 2026; ISBN: 9780316601627 Hardcover
