I hope the new year is treating you well! Here are some of the new books releasing this week:
Books for Kids
This Little Dreamer (Board Book) – A celebration of historical figures who dreamed about making the world a better place.
Almost Time – A father and son story of waiting, both for a loose tooth to fall out and for maple syrup.
Boxitects – When two talented – and competitive – makers have to team up, can they work through their differences to create something amazing?
I Am Anna AND I Am Elsa – Little Golden Books about the stars of Disney’s Frozen and Frozen 2.
Little Joe Chickapig – A young chickapig dreams of adventure. Based on the board game.
Bread for Words: A Frederick Douglass Story (January 15) – How Frederick Douglass learned to read and write.
Fred’s Big Feelings: The Life and Legacy of Mister Rogers – Picture book biography.
Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe – The true story of how these two iconic personalities became friends and helped one another.
The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L Payne – A picture book biography of the “First Lady of the Black Press.”
The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver – A picture book biography of George Washington Carver, including information about the secret garden where he learned about nature and life cycles.
Finding Tinker Bell: The Last Journey – Book 6 in the Finding Tinker Bell portion of the Disney Never Girls series. The girls have found Tinker Bell, but they aren’t sure they will be able to get off Shadow Island and get back home.
Mindy Kim and the Yummy Seaweed Business AND the Lunar New Year Parade – Books 1 and 2 in the Mindy Kim series of early chapter books focusing on an Asian-American girl and her culture. These look terrific!
Princess Pulverizer: Yo Ho, Yo NO! – Book 8 in this series about a princess on a series of quests to help her become a knight. Princess Pulverizer puts her Quest for Kindness at risk in order to save a mermaid captured by a pirate.
Stella Diaz Never Gives Up – Book 2 in the Stella Diaz series. A girl on vacation in Mexico learns about the environment and wants to save the ocean.
Books for Older Kids/Teens
Brina the Cat: The Gang of the Feline Sun – First in a new graphic novel series about a domestic cat who meets some strays on vacation and has to decide if she is going to stay with the strays or return to her family.
From the Desk of Zoe Washington – A girl preparing for a baking challenge is secretly investigating the crime that put her father in prison – the one he says he didn’t commit. I’ve asked for this one at the library – sounds great!
Go With the Flow (Older Middle Grade – Graphic Novel) – A group of high school sophomores start a “menstruation revolution” at their high school. This sounds like an older version of Revenge of the Red Club (♥♥♥♥♥). I have this on my list.
Nancy Drew Diaries: Hidden Pictures – Book 19 in the series. Nancy and her friends stumble onto a mystery around some old photographs and missing tourists.
Nessie Quest – A girl forced to spend her summer in Scotland teams up with a local kid to investigate the Loch Ness Monster. This sounds cute!
Pixie Pushes On (Older Middle Grade) – A novel set in the 1940s about a girl growing up on a farm, missing her sister who is in quarantine because of polio, and who learns to soften her rough edges by raising a runt baby lamb.
Race to the Sun – New from Rick Riordan’s imprint for mythology tales, this one focused on Native American culture. Nizhoni, her brother and a friend are drawn into a battle with monsters when her father disappears, leaving behind a note that only says, “Run!”
The Thief Knot: A Greenglass House Story – A group of kid detectives work together to solve a kidnapping.
The Unicorn Rescue Society: The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande – Book 4 in this fantasy series. This time the team is looking for a chupacabra.
Trailblazers: Albert Einstein: The Greatest Mind in Physics – Middle grade biography.
Books for Teens/Young Adults
Dark and Deepest Red – When a pair of shoes seal to a girl’s feet and make her dance uncontrollably, she is drawn to a young man whose family has a history with those same shoes. This sounds fascinating!
Finding Mr. Better-Than-You – When a senior’s perfect plan falls apart, starting with her admission to college and her “perfect” boyfriend breaking up with her, the teen teams up with her best friends to salvage her senior year and her future.
Infinity Son – First in a new series. Two brothers, growing up in a magical world. One longs for the power to join the vigilantes working to put down magic-stealers; the other only wants the fighting to stop. When the peacemaker is the brother to manifest powers, it puts the siblings at odds while he is in the greatest danger of his life. This sounds amazing!
The King’s Questioner – A young man with the power to unlock secrets and memories from the minds of the king’s enemies uses his power – at the King’s request – to save the prince. But while he is in the prince’s mind, he discovers a secret that could destroy the kingdom. That sounds amazing, too.
Lucky Caller – A teen taking radio broadcasting her senior year finds herself in over her head as her “team” is a disaster, they have dueling fandoms gunning for them, and the one person she wanted to avoid for the rest of her life is right in the middle of it with her.
Spartan Destiny – Book 3 in the Mythos Academy spin off series about a girl, hated by her peers because of her parents’ choices. But she may be the only one with the power to save the world from the trouble that is coming. I have this fantasy series – and the original – on my TBR list.
Strange Exit – A teen who is part of a virtual reality simulation must convince the others she finds that they are in this sim in order to wake them up from it so they can get off the ship where they are in stasis. She convinces another teen, but he becomes convinced that they should figure out who should be saved and who should be sacrificed for the greater good. Soon the two are working against one another to get to the heart of the sim where they will find salvation – or destruction. This sounds amazing!!
What Are Friends For? – In a “harmless” kissing game, a girl ends up kissing her best friend – and it’s amazing. She convinces him that he was kissing someone else because she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship. But now she can’t stop thinking about that kiss.
Books for Adults
A Beginning at the End (Hardcover) – A handful of people work together in the aftermath of a pandemic that wiped out much of the world’s population. And they will need one another desperately when rumors of another outbreak start to spread
Archangel Rising (Trade Paperback) – Book 2 in the Archangel One series. This book is currently free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers as is book one. Archangel Squadron has been instructed to “go rogue” and infiltrate the Empire so humanity can have every chance of surviving the inevitable coming war. Both books sound amazing!
The Better Liar (Hardcover) – A woman hides the death of her sister in order to get both shares of an inheritance because her father set things up so that they inherit together or not at all. So she finds someone to pose as her sister in order to get the money, but both women are keeping secrets and it’s not clear which of them is the more dangerous. A twisty thriller!
Chaos in California (e-book) – Book 3 in the Accidentally Undercover mystery series. The two friends are still on the run, but they stumble into another mystery, this time on a cannabis farm.
The Court of Mortals (Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Stariel series about a magical land in need of a leader, the black sheep of the royal family, and the dangerous fae, returning to the land of mortals. This series is supposed to be a mix of fantasy and mystery and romance, and I am here for it. Sounds terrific! The first two books in this series are currently available to read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
The Innkeeper’s Bride(Trade Paperback) – Book 3 in the Amish Brides of Birch Creek series. A young man whose family has opened an inn is happy to have Selah working there, but he isn’t interested in being matchmade – or reminded of his past.
The Last Sister (Trade Paperback) – First in the Columbia River series. This book is available to read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. When their father was murdered, it tore their family apart. Their mother killed herself and the oldest of the three sisters disappeared. Now, 20 years later, the FBI is investigating a similar crime. Is it possible that the remaining two sisters – or the missing oldest one – know more than they’re telling? Or are they truly victims in the whole thing? This sounds fantastic, too!
A Longer Fall (Hardcover) – The sequel to An Easy Death (♥♥♥½) by Charlaine Harris, an alternate history-western. This time, Gunnie Rose is hired to protect a crate on a journey across the country, but what was supposed to be a simple task ends in massacre. Gunnie goes undercover to retrieve the stolen crate.
Love Her or Lose Her (Trade Paperback) – Sequel to Fix Her Up (♥♥♥♥) in the Hot & Hammered series. When her husband returns from the service, Rosie is afraid their marriage will never again be like it was before. She never expected him to agree to “marriage book camp,” but it might be just what their relationship needs. Sensitive readers should be aware that the content of the first book was quite explicit – even moreso than I’ve come to expect in romance books these days.
Much Ado About Nutmeg (Trade Paperback) – Book 6 in the Pancake House mystery series. When an unpopular sports reporter comes to town, stirring up trouble during the Golden Oldies Games, no one is really surprised when she ends up dead.
The St. Francis Society of Wayward Pets (Trade Paperback) – After a string of bad luck, a woman jumps at the chance for a fresh start when her birth mother leaves her a home in a new town. This sound excellent!
Year-Round Trouble (e-book) – 14 original cozy mysteries tied to holidays throughout the year.
From Freezer to Cooker: Delicious Whole-Food Meals for the Slow Cooker, Pressure Cooker, and Instant Pot (Paperback Cookbook) – How to prepare and freeze food that can be cooked later in a slow cooker, pressure cooker or Instant pot.
Your New Name: Saying Goodbye to the Labels That Limit (Trade Paperback) – Discover your identity in God rather than in the labels the world might place on you.