By Sophie
Well, summer is here, as we noticed with a brief heat wave last week! And it is reflected in our June bestsellers because half the books are serious summery reads in the Romance and Romantasy category.
As per usual, some titles on the list carried over from last month, and we always list the bestselling ABC Favorites per store, too. Some excellent newcomers grabbed their spotlight however: Bury Your Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab (look for an author highlight blog coming soon!), Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (already a favorite among a number of ABC staffers), and A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern, a memoir by the former New Zealand PM.
Enjoy!
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern
From the former prime minister of New Zealand, then the world’s youngest female head of government and just the second to give birth in office, comes a deeply personal memoir chronicling her extraordinary rise and offering inspiration to a new generation of leaders. What if we could redefine leadership? What if kindness came first? Jacinda Ardern grew up the daughter of a police officer in small-town New Zealand, but as the 40th Prime Minister of her country, she commanded global respect for her empathetic leadership that put people first. This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made political history and changed our assumptions of what a global leader can be.
What Happens in Amsterdam by local author Rachel Lynn Solomon
When an office romance ends poorly and gets her fired, Dani Dorfman applies for a job in Amsterdam. By the end of her first week, she’s never felt more adrift or alone. Then she crashes her bike into her high school ex-boyfriend and suddenly life is blooming with new opportunities.
Wouter needs to be married to inherit a gorgeous family home on a canal and when Dani’s job falls apart, she needs a visa.
As the marriage of convenience pushes them together in unexpected ways, Dani must decide whether her new life is yet another mistake or if it’s worth taking a risk on a second chance.
Jujutsu Kaisen vol. 26 by Gege Akutami
To gain the power he needs to save his friend from a cursed spirit, Yuji Itadori swallows a piece of a demon, only to find himself caught in the midst of a horrific war of the supernatural!
The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga (an ABC Favorite)
A philosopher and a student have a discussion. Their conversation reveals a profoundly liberating way of thinking: by developing the courage to change, set healthy boundaries and resist the impulse to please others, it is possible to find genuine and lasting happiness. Your life is not something that someone gives you, but something you choose yourself, and you are the one who decides how you live.
Bury Your Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532. London, 1837. Boston, 2019.
Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots. One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild. And all of them grow teeth.
Sacred Business by Nikki Trott
A handbook for aligning personal values with work and sustainability issues, to create profitable, ethical and long-lasting businesses. Sacred Business presents a transformational journey through nurturing personal growth and consciousness interwoven with pioneering business strategies. The goal: to liberate businesses from the fear, competition and patriarchy that have long constrained them. Until now business success has been defined almost entirely by financial returns. As a result, businesses are the leading contributors to our climate crisis, mass extinction, rising temperatures, and depleting resources. Whilst ‘sustainability’ has reached boardrooms, necessary efforts are falling short. It’s not enough to merely sustain; we must actively rejuvenate our planet, shifting towards regenerative business practices that give back more than they take. The basic connection between planet and human is clear: an unhealthy planet cannot support healthy people, and vice versa. This is not a tale of giving up on profit and growth to save the planet; rather, it shares how to unlock the full potential of individuals and businesses so everyone and everything can benefit and thrive together. Through capturing the loyalty of increasingly conscious consumers, providing the tools to navigate market disruptions, and maintaining trust through transparency, organizations will thrive ahead of those using traditional models.
When the Moon Hatched (small paperback edition) by Sarah A. Parker
Raeve’s job is to complete orders and never get caught. Until a rival assassin devastates her world, and she is captured by a group of powerful fae. Crushed by the loss of his great love, Kaan Vaegor hunts the world for answers. Then a clue lures him to the capital’s high-security prison, where he finds Raeve …
Now they seek truths that threaten to shatter everything they knew about their world – and each other. When the Moon Hatched will transport you into a world filled with magic, dragons and a love that blazes through the ages…
Funny Story by Emily Henry (available at a bargain price for a limited time only)
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space. Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilots Hank Redmond and John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Following Van Gogh by local author Tea Gudek Snajdar
When museum guide Elisabeth Bernard is entrusted with a mysterious painting, she leaps at the chance to research it. But passionate Lizzy’s quest for the truth soon leads her into danger as she crosses Europe on a route once travelled by her favourite artist. Meanwhile, back in 1880s Holland, aspiring painter Vincent van Gogh is searching for inspiration, companionship and his own distinctive style. As Lizzy’s plight escalates, so Vincent’s anguish intensifies, with famously tragic consequences. An art-heist adventure told through the eyes of an art historian, Following Van Gogh is a parallel journey of self-discovery; a tale of passion, and what we are prepared to risk in pursuit of it.
Caught Up by Navessa Allen
Nico “Junior” Trocci knows Lauren Marchetti is off limits. She is sweetness and laughter, whereas Junior exists in a world of violence and depravity. Men like him don’t get to have women like her. It’s why he pushed her away back in high school and kept his distance ever since. But when Junior looks Lauren up online, he discovers the shy, bookish girl he remembers is gone. In her place is a strikingly beautiful woman whose social media is filled with scantily clad pictures of herself and a connection to a nearby play club. Junior’s innocent curiosity quickly turns into a dark obsession. Watching Lauren from a distance isn’t enough; he needs to make her his.
Lauren is intrigued by the mystery man who keeps showing up at her club, who tempts her white-hot desires. But as their flirty online messages stir up a deeper form of connection, Lauren worries she’s developing real feelings for this brooding stranger. As their combined desire ratchets up to a breaking point, who will seduce who?
Rewind It Back by Liz Tomforde
“When I was eleven, my family moved next door to his. When I was thirteen, he was my first crush. When I was sixteen, we fell for each other. And when I was nineteen, we broke each other’s hearts.
Six years later, I’ve landed an internship with a big-name interior designer in a new city. Unfortunately, that city just so happens to be the one he plays hockey for. I thought Chicago was big enough to avoid him, until I get the surprise of a lifetime and unknowingly move in right next door. Even worse? The renovation project I’m assigned to in hopes of turning that internship into my full-time dream job… It’s his house.”
