Book of the Week (7/27/2026)

Photosynthesis & Respiration: Poems by Christopher Clauss (Silver Bow Publishing, 2022)

The thread running through this collection of poems is relationship, but many take a scientific perspective. In most ecological systems the process of photosynthesis is responsible for the creation of food from inorganic carbon dioxide and water, absorbing energy from the sun to fuel life on our planet. Respiration in living things does just the opposite, breaking down that food into its original components and releasing energy to power every life process in which we engage. The two processes function in tandem, intertwining in an elegant dance, depending on one another to keep us all alive, much like partners in a relationship. One could describe this collection as love poems about science or science poems about love. Either way, they bridge the gap between two marvelous phenomena, neither of which we will ever fully appreciate, and about which we still have so much to learn. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Christopher Clauss is a father, poet, and middle school science teacher from Chesterfield, New Hampshire. He has represented his home state six times at the National Poetry Slam as a member of the Slam Free or Die poetry slam team. Christopher's work explores the bliss and turmoil of faith, teaching, parenting, marriage, and community in rural New England, with a scientific flair. His poems have been published in New York Quarterly, Plants and Poetry Journal, Sylvia, FreezeRay, and Bureau of Complaint. You will find him in the middle of the Pacific Ocean exploring the seafloor or wading into tidepools in the North Atlantic.

Join Christopher and the Slam Free or Die Competition Team at Gibson's Bookstore on Wed., August 19, 2026 from 4:30-6:00pm for an afternoon of poetry!

Book of the Week (7/20/2026)

The Cure at Walden Pond: A Guide to Recovering Our Humanity by Thomas Moore (Pegasus Books, 2026)

Among the pages of Henry David Thoreau’s journals and his legendary Walden, Thomas Moore, beloved bestselling author, psychotherapist, and public thinker, has found transformative ideas and approaches that promise to help us live better. As Moore writes, “We need to make the journey to our own ‘Walden Pond’ and find a cure for our cultural lostness.”

Like Moore’s own million-copy-bestselling Care of the Soul, The Cure at Walden Pond will be widely heralded among readers for its beautiful prose, accessible voice, and profound insights into the human condition. 

Thoreau was disillusioned in his day by the same kind of frantic consumerism, round-the-clock work, and narrow imagination that trouble us today. Moore will help readers slow down, be more present and mindful in their relationships with their loved ones, and appreciate the beautiful world we share. For Moore, as for Thoreau, there is immense spiritual power all around us.

New Hampshire’s Mount Monadnock is a “natural temple” for all New Englanders, a place of reverence and renewal, and Moore encourages us to find our own places of rejuvenation. There is neglected spirituality—and humanity—in the everyday objects that sustain us too. Moore explores his own memories of an old farmhouse, a grinding stone, and an out-of-tune piano that bring him back to his childhood and his family history. 

The journey to Walden Pond is an essential American pilgrimage, and The Cure at Walden Pond embodies Thoreau’s essence, guiding us through Thoreau’s precepts so we can find more harmony in our communities and in ourselves. Immersing ourselves in the music of the natural world The Cure at Walden Pond is a resonate read that will move and inspire any one in search of a new way of being. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Thomas Moore is the author of the bestselling Care of the Soul and twenty other books on spirituality and depth psychology that have been translated into thirty languages. He has been practicing depth psychotherapy for thirty-five years. He lectures and gives workshops in several countries on depth spirituality, soulful medicine, and psychotherapy. He has been a monk and a university professor, and is a consultant for organizations and spiritual leaders. He has often been on television and radio, including Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday. Thomas also writes fiction, arranges music and plays golf in New Hampshire, where he has lived for thirty years.

Book of the Week (7/13/2026)

You'll Be Sorry by Lisa Gardner (Grand Central Publishing, 2026)

For Raquel and Theo Collins, it appeared to be love at first sight. Raquel, a renowned interior designer, and Theo, a brash financial wizard met and married in a matter of months, only to confront a terrible tragedy. Now, unbearably aware of the distance between them, they’ve come to a remote town in New Hampshire to begin anew.

Perched on a ledge with stunning views, the Dixon’s family lodge was once a crown jewel of the mountains. Until late one August night, when both parents and their four children vanished, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, and a mystery that has endured for thirty years. Now, its latest occupants, the Collinses, are arriving, and the former grand lodge is once more stirring to life.

For Amanda Grady, following in her father’s footsteps as the recently appointed Shereford police chief, it’s good to see a fresh start for the derelict Dixon place. However, not everyone is happy about a new family in the old home and its hidden past may have returned with a vengeance.

When a stray dog leads to the discovery of a skeleton on the property, Raquel and Theo face a daunting choice of what to believe, who to trust, and how to survive. Because in the tiny village of Shereford the time has come. The local residents, the new neighbors, and the fledgling police chief must work together to unravel the terrifying events that happened one night thirty years ago, or…you’ll be sorry. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Lisa Gardner ia a #1 New York Times bestselling thriller novelist. A self-described research junkie, she has transformed her interest in police procedure and criminal minds into a streak of internationally acclaimed novels, published across 30 countries. She’s also had four books become TV movies (At the Midnight Hour; The Perfect Husband; The Survivors Club; Hide). Lisa lives in New Hampshire where she spends her time with an assortment of canine companions. When not writing, she loves to hike, garden, snowshoe and play cribbage.

Join Gibson's Bookstore, in conjunction with New Hampshire Public Radio and the Capitol Center for the Arts on Monday, August 10, 2026 at 7 pm as they welcome Lisa Gardner to the Bank of NH Stage for "You'll Be Sorry", as part of their author series, Authors on Main!

Book of the Week (7/6/2026)

Ghost Chickens: Omelet from the Other Side by Adi Rule (Tundra Books, 2026)

After eating a glowing green egg, aspiring journalist Florence Fortescue can suddenly see that her house is overrun with ghost chickens in this delightfully bizarre and hilarious first book of a new early middle-grade series for readers aged 8 to 12!

Ten-year-old aspiring journalist Florence Fortescue did NOT want to move to the country, leaving her best friend and city life behind.

To make matters worse, Florence is shocked to discover a Minions-esque flock of ghost chickens running amok all over her new house — and her parents are oblivious! Clearly, Mom and Dad need to take their precious daughter back to the city RIGHT NOW. If only she could convince them . . .

Using her journalistic skills, Florence cooks up a sizzling exposé in her homemade newspaper: TERROR IN THE HAUNTED COOP! But when that plan fails, Florence has to enlist the help of her weird new neighbor, two bizarre dogs and maybe even the ghost chickens themselves! --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Adi Rule is the author of Nell and the Netherbeast, Why Would I Lie?, Hearts of Ice, as well as The Hidden Twin and Strange Sweet Song, which won the 2016 New Hampshire Writers' Project Literary Award for Outstanding Young Adult Book and the Vermont College of Fine Arts Houghton Mifflin/Clarion Prize. Adi is a member of the faculty of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing program at Lasell University. She lives in New Hampshire with two and a half warring cats, a macaw, a magician, and a small but mighty flock of chickens.

3 on a Theme: Numbers

 The Five Year Lie: A Domestic Thriller by Sarina Bowen

 Six Thousand Doughnuts by Thomas Tosi

 Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W Greene 

Book of the Week (6/29/2026)

Lady Justice and the Sisterhood of the Crones by Jennifer Speidel (Olympia Publishers, 2026)

The world is broken - corrupt men rule, greed runs rampant, and the voices of women have been silenced for too long. Enter Mavon, a demon, who's lost her taste for wicked souls, and Buluku, the ancient goddess of matriarchy, who's had enough. Together, they call upon the crones - women of wisdom, resilience, and untapped power - to rise up and take back what's theirs.

On Peaks Island, an unlikely sisterhood forms: Maxine, a no-nonsense New Yorker with a rebellious streak; Toby, a teacher whose empathy is her superpower; and Sumita, a gentle soul with quiet strength. As their magic spreads, curses unravel the powerful, and a revolution begins. But changing the world won't be easy - especially when the forces of greed fight back.

Witty, fierce, and full of heart, Lady Justice and the Sisterhood of the Crones is a spellbinding tale of justice, sisterhood, and the power of women who refuse to be ignored. For anyone who's ever wished the patriarchy would just... crumble. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Jennifer Speidel has been a special education teacher for twenty years. She's passionate about building strong connections with students and community, and founded a school thrift shop that has provided over 11,000 free items to students. She lives in New Hampshire with her partner, Dave, and their two cats. Now empty nesters, they enjoy camping with their daughters. Jennifer loves coastal walks in Maine and reading with a cat curled up on her lap.

Join Jennifer at Gibson's Bookstore on Thu., August 6, 2026 at 6:30 pm where she will be discussing her first novel!

Book of the Week (6/22/2026)

In Wonderland: A Novel by Joyce Maynard (Little A, 2026)

In one golden summer, Frances trades her working-class world for an elite Maine lakeside estate―where privilege and betrayal turn into a deadly game.

Frances believes she’s found a ticket to paradise when a wealthy couple hires her for the summer as their mother’s helper at their lakefront summer home in Maine. The vintage wooden boats, the days at the country club, a shiny new bicycle, and a tennis racquet―suddenly Frances has everything her modest childhood lacked. Best of all, she gets to spend the summer with Forrest Emerson, her father's charismatic childhood friend who escaped their neighborhood when he married into money.

But below the glittering surface of Lake Catherine, nothing is what it seems. When Forrest’s wife, Regina, pulls Frances into her private obsession, the girl finds herself witness to the intimate secrets of adult lives. As the summer heat builds, so do the tensions within Wonderland’s walls. By Labor Day, a death will shatter the seemingly perfect family, leaving Frances to question everything she thought she knew about privilege, power, and the price of belonging. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Joyce Maynard is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen previous novels and five books of nonfiction, as well as the syndicated column Domestic Affairs. Her memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into eighteen languages. Her novels To Die For and Labor Day were both adapted for film. She is a fellow of MacDowell and Yaddo artists' residencies.

When not running her hotel/retreat center, Casa Paloma, in Guatemala―where she mentors women in the telling of their stories―she makes her home in Northern California and in the state of New Hampshire.

Join Joyce at Gibson's Bookstore on Thu., July 23, 2026 at 6:30 pm and at Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough on Sat., July 25, 2026 at 11 am where she will be discussing her newest book!

Book of the Week (6/15/2026)

Dominic Bean and the Mammoth Melt by Emilie Christie Burack (Groundwood Books, 2026)

At first, twelve-year-old Dominic Bean is not happy when he and his sister are “dumped” with eccentric relatives on a New Hampshire cattle farm while their scientist parents work on a secret project in the Canadian Arctic. Coping with what he sees as parental abandonment, plus the pressure of bullies, schoolwork and wrangling Harriet (a stubborn pregnant Highlander cow with long, sharp horns) bring out the worst in Dom.

But the sleepy farm turns out to be full of surprises. A developer is trying to buy the Bean family land to build an Arctic-themed amusement park under a plastic dome. Dom’s nemesis at school, Edith, turns out to have a way with Harriet. And reading his dad’s old journal leads Dom to an ancient woolly mammoth tusk that his father once found in the farm’s bog.

Dom learns that his jam-making aunt and whiskey-distilling uncle are in fact in cahoots with his parents on a secret project in the old milking barn ― a project that, if successful, will “de-extinct” the woolly mammoth and possibly help save the planet.--Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Emilie Christie Burack's debut novel, The Runaway’s Gold, was a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a winner of the New England Book Festival. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in New Hampshire, where she is the co-founder of the New Hampshire Book Festival.

Book of the Week (6/8/2026)

Out Clause by Ernest Thompson (Global Collective Publishers, 2026)

What if you could leave your life? Oxton Paris, the ultimate misfit, disfigured and ostracized, years ago left his and repurposed his angst into helping others escape their own entrapments, bad marriages, poor choices, compromising positions. He created Out Clause, providing thousands of Travelers a new life, a second chance, a smoother fit.

The compact, though, comes with caveats: one, a commitment to discontinue all contact with what's been left behind, no texting, no coded messaging on social media, no burner phone calls, no keepsakes tucked in backpacks. And, two, a promise to live a better life, predicated on honesty and kindness, not only to others but to oneself. Could you do that, become the better angel you perhaps have always longed to be?

If Travelers fail in their mission, their bodies will be discovered where they went missing, near a bridge, on a Caribbean beach, stumbled over by hikers or exposed when a glacier recedes, a house torn down, a subway tunnel reactivated. There's a vast network of spirit guides ensuring that Travelers reach their destinations. And stay true to the Out Clause ethic.

Enter a New York detective obsessed with suicides, especially those he calls No Bodies, and determined to find out where they've gone, setting up a human chess game with Oxton Paris and putting the entire sweet construct of Out Clause in jeopardy. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Ernest Thompson has written numerous films, plays and songs, and has worked extensively as an actor and director. In addition to his Oscar for On Golden Pond, Ernest's work has won two Golden Globes, a Writers Guild Award, a Broadway Drama Guild Award and been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and a British Academy Award. His plays have been seen in theaters around the world, his most enduring, On Golden Pond, translated into 30 languages and presented in more than 40 countries. From his home base, a 200-year-old farm in rural New Hampshire, Ernest has worked with hundreds of writers, hosting his internationally-renowned Write On Golden Pond workshops.

Join Ernest at Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, NH on Saturday, June 20, 2026 at 6 pm where he'll be discussing his latest book!

3 on a Theme: Skies

The Vanishing Sky by L. Annette Binder

Half My Sky: Autism, Marriage, and the Messiness That Is Building a Family by Carrie Cariello

Where the Water Meets the Sky: A Novel by Diane Les Becquets

Book of the Week (6/1/2026)

Skyland: A Novel by Ann Joslin Williams (Islandport Press, 2026)

When Celia is murdered by a troubled young man from across the street, her husband Henry and daughters Nora and Lucy are left to navigate the unthinkable in their small town of Kittery, Maine. Desperate to help his daughters heal, Henry sends the girls to spend the summer at Skyland Farm, a remote artists' retreat in the New Hampshire mountains run by his beloved cousin Franny.

But the girls, feeling abandoned, struggle to find their footing among the resident artists. Nora grapples with her complicated feelings about Blake, the young man who destroyed their lives, while forming a new bond with a young sculptor. Lucy, the sole witness to the murder, retreats into silence and the mysterious world of a painting above her bed. Back in Maine, Henry battles his own grief and faces his greatest test when he becomes entangled with Blake's alcoholic mother, threatening his twelve years of sobriety.

As the family struggles separately with their trauma, the buried details of that terrible day slowly surface. When Nora makes a desperate midnight drive home to confront her father, their journey becomes a reckoning that will either destroy what remains of their family or finally allow them to face their loss together.

Set against the rugged beauty of coastal Maine and the mountainous landscape of New Hampshire, Skyland reveals how art, nature, and unexpected friendships can slowly guide us back from the brink―and how families can find their way to one another even after the unthinkable. -- Publishers blurb

About the author:

Ann Joslin Williams is the author of the novel Down From Cascom Mountain, and a collection of linked short stories The Woman in the Woods. She is the recipient of awards from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, the New Hampshire Writers’ Project Literary Awards, and the Stegner Program at Stanford University. Her writing has appeared in many journals including The Sun, Carve, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, and elsewhere. She is an associate professor emerita of English at the University of New Hampshire. She enjoys spending time in Alexandria, New Hampshire at her family cabin, hiking in the White Mountains and enjoying the outdoors with her partner John.

Join Ann at Gibson's Bookstore on Tuesday, July 14, 2026 at 6:30 pm where she will be presenting her newest novel!

Book of the Week (5/25/2026)

Midnight Curfew by Penelope Douglas (Berkley, 2026)

Summertime is off-season in southern Florida. Families leave their homes to escape the heat, the streets are empty, and the nights are quiet. Perfect time for a little mischief while the police aren’t looking.

As the middle Jaeger brother, Dallas was often lost in the shuffle growing up. Now a man, he’s prideful of his community on the wrong side of the tracks—Sanoa Bay—and aggressively protective of his land and his inner circle. He’s hungry and ready for a fight.

Callum Ames has a reputation in St. Carmen, the affluent neighborhood abutting Sanoa Bay. The hottest. The most popular. Rich. Powerful. Strong. The one all the women want. After four years away, he’s back, but for all his bravado, he’s got one major secret: he doesn’t want a woman.

Summer is also storm season. Heat, wind, rain…

And a lockdown.  

In a desperate bid to impress his influential father, Callum suggests a curfew to hinder their rivals in the Bay.

Unfortunately, the Jaegers don’t like rules.

As Dallas and Callum face off and engage, out for each other’s blood, they can’t stop the consuming fire between them and the outcome they already see coming…

The storm of the century. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Penelope Douglas is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Their books have been translated into twenty languages and include the Fall Away series, the Hellbent series, the Devil’s Night series, and the stand-alones Misconduct, Punk 57, Birthday Girl, Credence, and Tryst Six Venom. They live in New Hampshire with their husband and daughter.

Book of the Week (5/18/2026)

Pretty Evil New England: True Stories of Violent Vixens and Murderous Matriarchs by Sue Coletta (Globe Pequot Publishing, 2020)

For four centuries, New England has been a cradle of crime and murder—from the Salem witch trials to the modern-day mafia. Nineteenth century New England was the hunting ground of five female serial killers: Jane Toppan, Lydia Sherman, Nellie Webb, Harriet E. Nason, and Sarah Jane Robinson.

Female killers are often portrayed as caricatures: Black Widows, Angels of Death, or Femme Fatales. But the real stories of these women are much more complex. In Pretty Evil New England, true crime author Sue Coletta tells the story of these five women, from broken childhoods, to first brushes with death, and she examines the overwhelming urges that propelled these women to take the lives of a combined total of more than one-hundred innocent victims. The murders, investigations, trials, and ultimate verdicts will stun and surprise readers as they live vicariously through the killers and the would-be victims that lived to tell their stories. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series books, psychological thriller/mysteries, Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction, Pretty Evil New England. Sue lives with her husband in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.

Book of the Week (5/11/2026)

Dead Horse Soup: Frank Barker's Klondike Gold Rush by Thomas Haynes (Historical Society of Cheshire County, 2026)

Frank Barker first learned about the rush to the Klondike gold fields through his local Keene, New Hampshire newspapers. For months, beginning on July 17, 1897, the almost daily references to the Klondike promoted a story that anyone with the right fortitude and determination could find gold. As a young working-class man seeking adventure and wealth after living through the depression of the mid 1890s, this was an opportunity he was not going to pass up.

For seven months Frank Barker planned his trip to the Klondike, which included finding the right people to accompany him, organizing what food, tools, and equipment to bring, transportation, and raising enough money to cover the expedition’s costs.

With his plans complete, Frank Barker leads his three partners on a once in a lifetime adventure to live out their dreams of becoming wealthy miners, while enduring the many hardships on their two-year quest for gold in the Klondike.

After reading about the gold rush to the Klondike through his local Keene, New Hampshire newspapers, Frank Barker begins to dream about becoming a wealthy gold miner. After much planning, Barker’s dream turns real in February of 1898, when he leads three partners on a once in a lifetime adventure to the Klondike. Using Barker’s own words from the letters he wrote home and the photographs he took of the journey, his story reveals the excitement and hardships they experience on their two-year quest for gold in the Klondike. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Tom Haynes is a Keene, NH author. Previous works include "The Power of Water : the History of Water Powered Mills in the Monadnock Region" in which he was editor.

Book of the Week (5/4/2026)

The Chosen City: The Owner, the Players, and the New Hampshire City that Integrated Baseball in the United States by Bill Ranauro (Spines, 2026)

This is the story of an audacious owner, two talented Black ballplayers, and a small city in New Hampshire. Together, they undid almost six decades of injustice. In the spring of 1946, Brooklyn Dodgers owner and General Manager Branch Rickey signed African American players Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe. Rickey’s signing of the two players has been largely overlooked because Jackie Robinson had been signed just several months before. But Robinson played in Montreal, Canada in 1946 while Campanella and Newcombe were assigned to play in Nashua, New Hampshire. This meant Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe became the first Black players since 1887 to play on a professional baseball team in the United States. Just as importantly the Nashua Dodgers became the first United States based team in organized baseball to employ Black players in the twentieth century. This is the story of how the owner, the players, and the city made baseball history together. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Bill Ranauro is a retired high school History teacher and football coach from New Hampshire. In addition to six books, Bill has authored articles in Scholastic Coach magazine and The Forum, a journal for the New England History Teachers Association. He was honored as the Social Studies Teacher of the Year in New Hampshire in 2007 and was inducted into the New Hampshire Coaches Hall of Fame in the same year. Bill is an avid follower of all Boston sports teams and enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with his family. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire, with his wife Lisa.

3 on a Theme: Girls & Boys

Katie Girl: Deadly Germs, Modern Medicine, and a Family's Fight by John S. Bentley

Mule Boy by Andrew Krivak

The Boy Who Fell To Shore: The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Thomas Thor Tangvald by Charles J. Doane

Book of the Week (4/27/2026)

My Sister, the Freak: A Graphic Novel by Dani Jones (HarperAlley, 2026)

From New York Times bestselling illustrator Dani Jones comes a heartfelt exploration of sisterhood, forgiveness, and outer space invasions.

Mary Seaver lives in her own world. It’s not her fault if sometimes her enthusiasm creates chaos. To Mary, that’s what being 10 years old and a huge science fiction fan is all about. Allison “Al” Seaver is Mary’s older sister—and she’s everything that Mary is not: cool, calm, collected, and super popular.

So it makes sense that when aliens invade their hometown of Pleasant Valley, Mary’s trying to warn everyone about the end of the world while Al’s just hoping it will all go away before the spring dance. But when a secret emerges from their family’s past, Mary and Al find themselves turning to their most unlikely ally: each other.

Dive into Dani Jones's debut original graphic novel, a hilariously tender investigation of sibling dynamics, aliens, and what it is that makes us human. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Dani Jones is an illustrator, artist, and writer based in New Hampshire. She is the creator of the children's book MONSTERS VS. KITTENS (Stan Lee's Kids Universe) and the comic MY SISTER THE FREAK. She loves to draw silly creatures, cute animals, and pictures for kids. Her hyper cat is named Charles and he loves to sit with her at her desk while she draws.

Book of the Week (4/20/2026)

Bonebag by E. M. Elliott and David Elliott (Astra Young Readers, 2026)

Trapped in a dark forest with his cold-hearted parents, Bonebag leads a cruel and isolated existence. However, he feels deep in his bones that things weren’t always this way: he has known happiness before. Why does it feel like it was in a past life?

When Bonebag discovers a locket that burns him to the touch, and a ghostly girl beckons him into the deep woods, he must grapple with the riddle of where he came from and how he came to be. Only then can he begin to rewrite his fate.

From New York Times bestselling author David Elliott and his son, E.M. Elliott, this powerful middle-grade fantasy will take readers on a quest that tackles the mystery of belonging with high-octane twists and turns along the way. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

David Elliott lives in New Hampshire with his wife and a Dandie Dinmont terrier. David is a New York Times bestselling author with over 35 published or soon-to-be published books to his name. These include, his provocative novels-in-verse Bull, and Voices, as well as many picture books and middle-grade novels. Bonebag is his first book to be co-written with his son, E.M. Elliott.

Book of the Week (4/13/2026)

Perfect Wives, Perfect Lies: A Novel by Jennifer Anne Gordon (Podium Publishing, 2026)

In the wake of losing her son, Becca also lost her marriage and her moorings. Now, work and time spent with her best friend, Lynn, are what gets her through the day. But it’s a private group of moms on social media that gets her through the long nights.

Run by Karen, the holy grail of perfect wives, Mommy Wine Time is a place where women share stories, perfectly airbrushed photos, and advice disguised as humble brags. And it’s where Becca pretends to be Lucy, with the help of a stock photo account. Lucy’s an ideal wife and mother living a dahlia-filled life in Seattle, enjoying all the things that Becca is certain she’ll never have again.

But the line between Becca’s truths and Lucy’s lies starts to blur when a series of bad deeds, daring games, and too many bottles of cheap chardonnay reveals something darker. Soon, what began as mere petty crimes escalates to kidnapping, assault, revenge, and murder. Still, the more Becca pretends, the more alive she feels . . .

This psychological thriller from the author of Pretty/Ugly takes the wine moms from Big Little Lies and Desperate Housewives, puts them in an online space where it’s easier to hide their true identities, and then gives them even darker obsessions. Cheers. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Jennifer Anne Gordon is an award-winning Gothic horror author and podcast host. Her debut novel, Beautiful, Frightening, and Silent, won the 2020 Kindle Book Award for Best Horror/Suspense, and her novel Pretty/Ugly won the 2022 Helicon Award for Best Horror as well as the Kindle Book Award for Best Novel of the Year (Reader’s Choice). Gordon’s essays have been featured in Miniskirt Magazine, Tangled Locks Journal, Lumina Journal, and Flash Glass. She lives in rural New Hampshire.

Book of the Week (4/6/2026)

Every Precious and Fragile Thing: A Novel by Barbara Davis (Lake Union Publishing, 2025)

For social worker Mallory Ward, working with at-risk youth is a calling. But when one of her clients is tragically killed, she finds herself at a crossroads. Despite long-held resentments toward her distant mother, Mallory retreats to her childhood home on the Rhode Island coast to contemplate her future. Instead, she’s confronted by her past, not only in the renewed tensions with her mother but in the unexpected appearance of a familiar face―and the wrenching losses that drove her away a decade ago.

Helen Ward’s home is filled with precious keepsakes from her patients, a testament to decades spent caring for the terminally ill. Her work has always come first, though, leaving little time to connect with her daughter. Over the years, the rift between them has become a chasm, so when Mallory appears unannounced, Helen sees it as an opportunity to repair their broken relationship. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

After twelve years in the jewelry business, Barbara Davis left the corporate world in order to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a writer. She was born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, but grew up and attended school in Florida. Eventually, work led her north, where she lived in Charleston for two years, and in Raleigh for fourteen, before eventually making her home in Dover, New Hampshire.