Always With a Book

First line: Sam Cooper’s stomach grumbled at the sight of the blue-and-yellow umbrellas shading his favorite hot dog stand from the blazing sun. From the back cover: Sam Cooper (“Coop”) has just become the most eligible bachelor in New York City. Now that he has foiled a jewelry-store robbery and has been rewarded with the ring of choice, single women all over the city are fawning over the crime reporter.…

First line: I learned I had no name on the same day I learned fear. From the back cover: In early twentieth-century Korea, Najin Han, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher, longs to choose her own destiny. But her country is in tumult under Japan’s harsh occupation, and her family’s traditions, entitlements, and wealth crumble. Narrowly escaping an arranged marriage, Najin becomes a companion to a young princess, until Korea’s…

First line: “It’s very small,” the Englishwoman said, sounding disappointed. From the insider cover: NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe’s most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren’t what draw him – he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter’s killer. Kanon’s daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris,…

First line: Amy closed her suitcase and looked around the bedroom she shared with her husband, Stephen. From the back cover: Magic most definitely resides in the Maine summerhouse where the mysterious Madame Zoya has granted the innermost wishes of its visitors. Now, three women have come to this special place with one thing in common: a painful past they would each like to rewrite. Amy, who hides a heartbreaking…

First line: Leslie Headrick looked out her kitchen window at the old summerhouse in the back. From the back cover: Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty. Celebrating this turning point at a summerhouse in Maine, Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott are taking stock of their lives , their loves, and their choices. But none of them expects the gift that awaits…

First line: Alone in the evenings, when the light had drained from the slate roof of her small rural home, and when her husband was working late, Mary Gooch would perform a striptease for the stars at the open bedroom window: shifting out of rumpled bottoms, slipping off blousy tops, liberating breasts, peeling panties, her creamy flesh spilling forth until she was completely, exquisitely nude. From the inside cover: On…

First line: The year I turned forty-three was the year I realized I should have never taken my Mennonite genes for granted. From the back cover: Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her seriously injured. Needing…

First line: Elly sensed something was wrong immediately, but since she was not a woman who lived by her instincts, she did nothing. From the back cover: The loss of their close friend draws four women together. And a summer spent sorting through personal effects offers the perfect challenge – and the perfect escape. Sable – her bestselling novels have made her a star, but the woman who has everything,…

First line: Doctor Ravell had already missed the funeral. From the inside cover: It is 1903. Doctor Ravell is a young Harvard-educated obstetrician whose reputation for helping couples conceive has made him a rising star. He is flattered when a family of illustrious Boston physicians turns to him to treat one of their own members – a lovely opera singer named Erika von Kessler, who has struggled for years to…

First line: Benita Sanchez was almost as afraid of running into a rattlesnake as she was U.S. Customs and Border Protection. From the back cover: Twelve people have been shot at point-blank range and left to rot in the desert sun. It’s Sophia St. Claire’s job to do something about it. She’s Bordertown, Arizona’s new chief of police – and she’s out of her depth. Help arrives in the form…