Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

North Dakota

ASSISTANT WANTED...Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, unperturbable assistant for general office duties, admin work, and supporting staff for mayhem, terror, and Dark Things In General. Discretion necessary under pain of death. Excellent benefits.Evie Sage has been working for the Villain for exactly five months. She thought that being the assistant for Rennedawn's lord of darkness might make her a little more, yunno, evil. Instead, she's getting used to suspended severed heads, the screams of fear, and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel.Of course, no job is perfect, especially when you have a teeeeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don't find evil so attractive, Evie.Only something is rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn. Someone wants to take the Villain - and his entire nefarious empire - out. Now Evie is determined to figure out exactly who is sabotaging her boss, and ensure he makes them pay.After all, a good job is hard to find.And the monsters that we should fear aren?t the ones that live in the light - but the ones who hide in the shadows.

Assistant to the Villain

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Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

OwlCrate May 2024 YA full box

Olivie Blake

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

A Love Story

From Olivie Blake, the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six, comes an intimate and contemporary study of time, space, and the nature of love. Alone with You in the Ether explores what it means to be unwell, and how to face the fractures of yourself and still love as if you're not broken.

CHICAGO, SOMETIME--
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.

For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.

To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.

For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability--until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?

Fox & Wit Alone with You in the Ether

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L. J. Shen

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Emilia They say love and hate are the same feelings experienced under different circumstances, and it's true. The man who comes to me in my dreams also haunts me in my nightmares. He is a brilliant lawyer. A skilled criminal. A beautiful liar. A bully and a savior, a monster and a lover. Ten years ago, he made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he came for me in New York, and he isn't leaving until he takes me with him. Vicious She is a starving artist. Pretty and evasive like cherry blossom. Ten years ago, she barged into my life unannounced and turned everything upside down. She paid the price. Emilia LeBlanc is completely off-limits, my best friend's ex-girlfriend. The woman who knows my darkest secret, and the daughter of the cheap Help we hired to take care of our estate. That should deter me from chasing her, but it doesn't. So she hates me. Big fucking deal. She better get used to me.

Vicious

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Liz Tomforde

OOP* The Right Move (Windy City Series Book 2)

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Icebreaker OOP Indie

A. Jade

Ashley Jade

Wicked Princess

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Monica Byrne

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

A Novel

David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas meets Octavia Butler's Earthseed series, as acclaimed author Monica Byrne (The Girl in the Road) spins a brilliant multigenerational saga spanning two thousand years, from the collapse of the ancient Maya to a far-future utopia on the brink of civil war. The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents --telling three powerful tales a thousand years apart, all of them converging in the same cave in the Belizean jungle. Braided together are the stories of a pair of teenage twins who ascend the throne ofa Maya kingdom; a young American woman on a trip of self-discovery in Belize; and two dangerous charismatics vying for the leadership of a new religion and racing toward a confrontation that will determine the fate of the few humans left on Earth after massive climate change. In each era, a reincarnated trinity of souls navigates the entanglements of tradition and progress, sister and stranger, and love and hate--until all of their age-old questions about the nature of existence converge deep underground, where only in complete darkness can they truly see. The Actual Star is a feast of ideas about where humanity came from, where we are now, and where we're going--and how, in every age, the same forces that drive us apart also bind us together.

The Actual Star

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Ava Homa

The unforgettable, haunting story of a young woman's perilous fight for freedom and justice for her brother, the first novel published in English by a female Kurdish writer Set in Iran, this extraordinary debut novel takes readers into the everyday lives of the Kurds. Leila dreams of making films to bring the suppressed stories of her people onto the global stage, but obstacles keep piling up. Leila's younger brother Chia, influenced by their father's past torture, imprisonment, and his deep-seated desire for justice, begins to engage with social and political affairs. But his activism grows increasingly risky and one day he disappears in Tehran. Seeking answers about her brother's whereabouts, Leila fears the worst and begins a campaign to save him. But when she publishes Chia's writings online, she finds herself in grave danger as well. Daughters of Smoke and Fire is an evocative portrait of the lives and stakes faced by 40 million stateless Kurds and a powerful story that brilliantly illuminates the meaning of identity and the complex bonds of family, perfect for fans of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun.

Daughters of Smoke and Fire

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Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

A Holiday Novella

*RARE, Signed* Running Back To You 

Johana Gustawsson

David Warriner

Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson returns with a spell-binding, dazzlingly dark gothic thriller that swings from Belle É poque France to 21st-century Quebec, with an extraordinary mystery at its heart... FIRST in a bewitching new series

'' Intriguingly dark and vivid, and so cleverly told through three different time frames'' Essie Fox

'' A wonderfully dark, intricately woven historical thriller spanning three generations ... it will have you hooked from the very first page'' B A Paris

'' This novel is a whirlpool that draws you irresistibly into levels of darkness so much deeper than you can possibly be ready for'' Chris Brookmyre

________________________________

Three women
Three eras
One extraordinary mystery...

1899, Belle É poque Paris.  Lucienne'' s two daughters are believed dead when her mansion burns to the ground, but she is certain that her girls are still alive and embarks on a journey into the depths of the spiritualist community to find them.

1949, Post-War QuÉ bec.  Teenager Lina'' s father has died in the French Resistance, and as she struggles to fit in at school, her mother introduces her to an elderly woman at the asylum where she works, changing Lina'' s life in the darkest way imaginable.

2002, Quebec.  A former schoolteacher is accused of brutally stabbing her husband - a famous university professor - to death. Detective Maxine Grant, who has recently lost her own husband and is parenting a teenager and a new baby single-handedly, takes on the investigation.

Under enormous personal pressure, Maxine makes a series of macabre discoveries that link directly to historical cases involving black magic and murder, secret societies and spiritism ... and women at breaking point, who will stop at nothing to protect the ones they love...

_________________________________

'' I found myself racing through the book, always wanting one more page, one more chapter. A wonderfully creepy, unsettling read, with a superb twist in its tail'' James Oswald

'' Gustawsson'' s writing is so vivid, it'' s electrifying. Utterly compelling'' Peter James

'' I was hooked from the first page - a stunning and beautifully written gothic thriller full of atmosphere, intrigue and delight'' Alexandra Benedict

'' What a brilliant, brilliant book ... the last chapters knocked me sideways, and it'' s a long time since that'' s happened'' Lisa Hall

'' Harrowing, compelling, haunting, vivid, twisty and shocking!'' Noelle Holten

'' A powerful page-turner'' Livres Hebdo

'' Fluid, skilful, fearsome and breathtaking ... the ending is horrifying'' La Marseillaise

***NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER IN FRANCE***

FOR FANS OF Laura Purcell, Elizabeth Macneal, Bridget Collins, Anna Mazzola, Ambrose Parry and Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Praise for Johana Gustawsson

***Longlisted for the CWA International Dagger***

'' A satisfying, full-fat mystery''   The Times

'' Assured telling of a complex story''   Sunday Times 

'' A real page-turner, I loved it''   Martina Cole

'' Dark, oppressive and bloody, but it'' s also thought-provoking, compelling and very moving''   Metro

'' A bold and intelligent read''   Guardian

'' Utterly compelling''   Woman'' s Own

'' Cleverly plotted, simply excellent''   Ragnar Jó nasson

'' A must-read''   Daily Express

'' Bold and audacious''   R. J. Ellory

'' Gritty, bone-chilling, and harrowing - it'' s not for the faint of heart, and not to be missed''   Crime by the Book

'' A relentless heart-stopping masterpiece''  New York Journal of Books

The Bleeding

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Clare Whitfield

Goldsboro Edition

Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel from the author of People of Abandoned Character. An absent father. A missing girl. Buried family secrets. Is the truth worth searching for?Sixteen-year-old Prue has grown up around secrets. Her gran's stern silence, her mother's teary breakdowns, her aunt's whispered assurances. But now, in the aftermath of her mum's latest 'episode', Prue's decided she's old enough for the truth. She wants to know what it is that makes the adults around her turn tight-lipped and distracted. She wants to know why her mum can't cope. Most of all, she wants to know who her dad is.Forced to spend the summer in the Shetlands with her aunt, Ruth, and new uncle, Archie, Prue arrives determined to find some answers. But she soon finds herself caught up in a web of family secrets, betrayals and - perhaps - even murder...Set during one long summer in Shetland, this is a beautifully drawn, psychologically astute novel about a young woman's search for truth, even as she realises the lies that surround her have been keeping her safe.Praise for The Gone and the Forgotten: 'What a beautiful, absorbing, emotional book. I was on that remote island with these characters, lost in their unfolding dramas and the barren landscape and long-past secrets. I was with young Prue on her quest to disperse the shadows of her past, and certainly identified with many of the things she had been through. A stunning read' Louise Beech

The Gone and the Forgotten

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Sierra Elmore

Unplugged Book Box

MEAN GIRLS meets IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY when two teenage girls' worlds collide when one attempts suicide to avoid toxic popularity.

Carter Harper may have created an award-winning app and have a 3.93 GPA, but her successes are overshadowed by brutal bullying, depression, and loneliness. Tired of being treated as the popular girls' plaything, Carter thinks her only choice is to die by suicide.

Abby Wallace is one of the most popular girls in school, subordinate only to Kelsey, her best friend with benefits. The ambitious poet destroys reputations without care to prove how cool, cruel, and strong she is, all while pushing down her past trauma and secret guilt.

Carter and Abby's tumultuous relationship comes to a boiling point when Abby stops Carter from attempting suicide. But what happens when they have to protect one another from Kelsey's harmful antics? If Carter and Abby can stand each other for more than three minutes, they can stop Kelsey from hurting more girls-and maybe become friends in the process.

In the tradition of Courtney Summers and Laurie Halse Anderson, DEATH BY SOCIETY questions how far we'll go to gain power over our lives-and what happens when we use our voices for both good and to harm others.

Death by Society

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Reading checklist from OwlCrate book box. 

Reading Checklist

Illumicrate

Poppy Wars Trident

Drawstring backpack from a book box. 3 book sleeves with pockets from Amazon.

Book bag/sleeves

Opal Carew

Opal Carew's Total Abandon is a delectable new erotic romance about a woman who gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live out her most sinful fantasies.

When Sandra jots her most forbidden fantasies on a cocktail napkin during a girl's night out, she thinks it's all just innocent fun. She never expected her friend Devlin--who's had a crush on her for ages--to find her list. Now, he's about to push their relationship to a new level by orchestrating a steamy weekend getaway... where Sandra's wildest fantasies can come to life. As Sandra ticks off item by delicious item on her list, she tests the limits of pleasure--and the limits of her relationship with Devlin...

Total Abandon

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Shelly Bell

Shelly Bell delivers the first book in her Forbidden Lovers erotic suspense romance For one night, Tristan taught the woman he knew only as Angel to surrender to all her wicked desires. Now his Angel has a name--Isabella Lawson--and he's not only her professor but her boss. Kisses are forbidden. Touches are forbidden. Nights with her are most definitely forbidden. Of course, he's never been one to play by the rules. When Isabella convinced her cousin to take her to her first kink party, she hadn't intended on meeting someone like Tristan--and she certainly hadn't intended on ever seeing him again. Now not only does she see him in class, she also shares a cramped office with him every afternoon...and it's becoming harder and harder to resist him. But as much as she wants to focus on her new feelings for Tristan, her dark past is coming for her and this time...she might not survive.

At His Mercy

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keychain, mirrored lipstick case, necklace, travel case.

Book box item bundle 

Bookish Tote

Bookish insulated lunch bag

Gillian French

With shades of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars and Courtney Summers’s Sadie, this dark and twisted mystery set in a divided Maine seaside town simmers with unresolved tensions and unpredictable truths. Everyone in Tenney’s Harbor knows about the Garrison tragedy. How an unexplained fire ravaged their house, killing four of the five family members. But what people don’t know is who did it. All fingers point at Pearl Haskins’ father, who was the caretaker of the property, but Pearl just doesn’t believe it. Leave it to a town of rich people to blame “the help.” With her disgraced father now trying to find work in between booze benders, Pearl’s future doesn’t hold much more than waiting tables at the local country club, where the wealthy come to flaunt their money and spread their gossip. This year, Tristan, the last surviving Garrison, and his group of affluent and arrogant friends have made a point of sitting in Pearl’s section. Though she’s repulsed by most of them, Tristan’s quiet sadness and somber demeanor have her rethinking her judgments. Befriending the boys could mean getting closer to the truth, clearing her father’s name, and giving Tristan the closure he seems to be searching for. But it could also trap Pearl in a sinister web of secrets, lies, and betrayals that would leave no life unchanged…if it doesn’t take hers first.

The Lies They Tell

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Tana French

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past. Richly atmospheric, stunning in its complexity, and utterly convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The Lovely Bones.

In the Woods

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Jodi Lynn Anderson

From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes The Vanishing Season, at once haunting and lovely, with a gut-wrenching final twist that will keep readers on their toes. It's perfect for fans of Gayle Forman, Lauren Myracle, and Laurie Halse Anderson.

Girls started vanishing in the fall.

For Maggie Larsen, the town of Gill Creek is only a stopgap before college and freedom. Until she meets Pauline and Liam.

What starts as an uneventful year suddenly changes. Someone is killing teenage girls, and the town reels from the tragedy. As Maggie's and Pauline's worlds collide and change around them, they will both experience love and loss.

And by the end of the book, only one of them will survive.

The Vanishing Season

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