June 2018 Adult Top 10 Picks

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  1. Tell Me Lies
    by Carola Lovering
    Atria Books
    Jun 12, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Domestic
    Hardback
    Tell Me Lies
    by Carola Lovering
    Atria Books
    Jun 12, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Domestic
    Hardback
    Named a Best Book of Summer by Parade * Refinery29 * PopSugar * Bustle * Working Mother * Town & Country * Thought Catalog * PureWow * Betches * Literary Hub * Brides

    “Think: The Affair meets Animal House meets your beach bag. Get into it.”—TheSkimm

    “A twisted modern love story.” —Parade

    “Everything you could ever want in a summer read.” —USA TODAY

    Everyone remembers the one. No, not that one. The other one. The one you couldn’t let go of. The one you’ll never forget.

    Lucy Albright is far from her Long Island upbringing when she arrives on the campus of her small California college, and happy to be hundreds of miles from her mother, whom she’s never forgiven for an act of betrayal in her early teen years. Quickly grasping at her fresh start, Lucy embraces college life and all it has to offer—new friends, wild parties, stimulating classes. And then she meets Stephen DeMarco. Charming. Attractive. Complicated. Devastating.

    Confident and cocksure, Stephen sees something in Lucy that no one else has, and she’s quickly seduced by this vision of herself, and the sense of possibility that his attention brings her. Meanwhile, Stephen is determined to forget an incident buried in his past that, if exposed, could ruin him, and his single-minded drive for success extends to winning, and keeping, Lucy’s heart.

    Lucy knows there’s something about Stephen that isn’t to be trusted. Stephen knows Lucy can’t tear herself away. And their addicting entanglement will have consequences they never could have imagined.

    Alternating between Lucy’s and Stephen’s voices, Tell Me Lies follows their connection through college and post-college life in New York City. With psychological insight and biting wit, this keenly intelligent and staggeringly resonant novel chronicles the yearning ambitions, desires, and dilemmas of young adulthood, and the difficulty of letting go, even when you know you should.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. Trans Like Me
    by CN Lester
    Seal Press
    Jun 19, 2018
    SOCIAL SCIENCE / LGBTQ+ Studies / Gay Studies
    Paperback / softback
    Trans Like Me
    by CN Lester
    Seal Press
    Jun 19, 2018
    SOCIAL SCIENCE / LGBTQ+ Studies / Gay Studies
    Paperback / softback
    A personal and culture-driven exploration of the most pressing questions facing the transgender community today, from a leading activist, musician, and academic

    In Trans Like Me, CN Lester takes readers on a measured, thoughtful, intelligent yet approachable tour through the most important and high-profile narratives around the trans community, turning them inside out and examining where we really are in terms of progress. From the impact of the media's wording in covering trans people and issues, to the way parenting gender variant children is portrayed, Lester brings their charged personal narrative to every topic and expertly lays out the work left to be done.

    Trans Like Me explores the ways that we are all defined by ideas of gender -- whether we live as he, she, or they -- and how we can strive for authenticity in a world that forces limiting labels.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. There There
    by Tommy Orange
    McClelland & Stewart
    Jun 05, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    There There
    by Tommy Orange
    McClelland & Stewart
    Jun 05, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Here is a voice we have never heard--a voice full of poetry and rage, exploding onto the page with stunning urgency and force.

    Here is a story of several people, each of whom has private reasons for travelling to the Big Oakland Powwow. Jacquie Red Feather is newly sober and trying to make it back to the family she left behind in shame. Dene Oxendene is pulling his life together after his uncle's death and has come to work at the powwow to honour his uncle's memory. Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield has come to watch her nephew Orvil Red Feather, who has taught himself traditional Indian dance through YouTube videos and has come to the powwow to dance in public for the very first time. There will be glorious communion, and a spectacle of sacred tradition and pageantry. And there will be sacrifice, and heroism, and unspeakable loss.

    Fierce, angry, funny, heartbreaking, There There is a relentlessly paced multi-generational story about violence and recovery, memory and identity, and the beauty and despair woven into the history of a nation and its people. An unforgettable debut.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Bring Me Back
    by B. A. Paris
    St. Martin's Press
    Jun 19, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Bring Me Back
    by B. A. Paris
    St. Martin's Press
    Jun 19, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback

    THE NEW TWISTY, GRIPPING READ FROM B.A. PARIS, THE AUTHOR OF THE INSTANTNEW YORK TIMES ANDUSA TODAY BESTSELLING NOVELSBEHIND CLOSED DOORSANDTHE BREAKDOWN

    “We’re in a new Golden Age of suspense writing now, because of amazing books likeBring Me Back, and I for one am loving it.” —Lee Child

    "[An] outstanding Hitchcockian thriller.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    She went missing. He moved on. A whole world of secrets remained—until now.

    Finn and Layla are young, in love, and on vacation. They’re driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station to use the restroom. He hops out of the car, locks the doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone—never to be seen again. That is the story Finn told to the police. But it is not the whole story.

    Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to remain together. Still, there’s something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe that she is the one for him...even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her.

    Then, not long before he and Ellen are to be married, Finn gets a phone call. Someone from his past has seen Layla—hiding in plain sight. There are other odd occurrences: Long-lost items from Layla’s past that keep turning up around Finn and Ellen’s house. Emails from strangers who seem to know too much. Secret messages, clues, warnings. If Layla is alive—and on Finn’s trail—what does she want? And how much does she know?

    A tour de force of psychological suspense,Bring Me Back will have you questioning everything and everyone until its stunning climax.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Trail of Lightning
    by Rebecca Roanhorse
    S&S/Saga Press
    Jun 26, 2018
    FICTION / Dystopian
    Hardback
    Trail of Lightning
    by Rebecca Roanhorse
    S&S/Saga Press
    Jun 26, 2018
    FICTION / Dystopian
    Hardback
    One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time

    2019 LOCUS AWARD WINNER, BEST FIRST NOVEL

    2019 HUGO AWARD FINALIST, BEST NOVEL

    Nebula Award Finalist for Best Novel

    One of Bustle’s Top 20 “landmark sci-fi and fantasy novels” of the decade

    “Someone please cancel Supernatural already and give us at least five seasons of this badass Indigenous monster-hunter and her silver-tongued sidekick.” —The New York Times

    “An excitingly novel tale.” —Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse and Midnight Crossroads series

    “Fun, terrifying, hilarious, and brilliant.” —Daniel José Older, New York Times bestselling author of Shadowshaper and Star Wars: Last Shot

    “A powerful and fiercely personal journey through a compelling postapocalyptic landscape.” —Kate Elliott, New York Times bestselling author of Court of Fives and Black Wolves

    While most of the world has drowned beneath the sudden rising waters of a climate apocalypse, Dinétah (formerly the Navajo reservation) has been reborn. The gods and heroes of legend walk the land, but so do monsters—and it is up to one young woman to unravel the mysteries of the past before they destroy the future.

    Maggie Hoskie is a Dinétah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last best hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

    Maggie reluctantly enlists the aid of Kai Arviso, an unconventional medicine man, and together they travel the rez, unraveling clues from ancient legends, trading favors with tricksters, and battling dark witchcraft in a patchwork world of deteriorating technology.

    As Maggie discovers the truth behind the killings, she will have to confront her past if she wants to survive.

    Welcome to the Sixth World.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. Number One Chinese Restaurant
    by Lillian Li
    Henry Holt and Co.
    Jun 19, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Number One Chinese Restaurant
    by Lillian Li
    Henry Holt and Co.
    Jun 19, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback

    Named a Must-Read byTIME,Buzzfeed,The Wall Street Journal,Star Tribune, Fast Company,The Village Voice, Toronto Star,Fortune Magazine,InStyle, andO, The Oprah Magazine

    "A joy to read
    I couldn't get enough."
    Buzzfeed

    "This novel practically thumps with heartache and sharp humor."
    Chang-rae Lee,New York Timesbestselling author ofNative Speaker

    An exuberant and wise multigenerational debut novel about the complicated lives and loves of people working in everyone’s favorite Chinese restaurant.

    The Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland, is not only a beloved go-to setting for hunger pangs and celebrations; it is its own world, inhabited by waiters and kitchen staff who have been fighting, loving, and aging within its walls for decades. When disaster strikes, this working family’s controlled chaos is set loose, forcing each character to confront the conflicts that fast-paced restaurant life has kept at bay.

    Owner Jimmy Han hopes to leave his late father’s homespun establishment for a fancier one. Jimmy’s older brother, Johnny, and Johnny’s daughter, Annie, ache to return to a time before a father’s absence and a teenager’s silence pushed them apart. Nan and Ah-Jack, longtime Duck House employees, are tempted to turn their thirty-year friendship into something else, even as Nan’s son, Pat, struggles to stay out of trouble. And when Pat and Annie, caught in a mix of youthful lust andboredom, find themselves in a dangerous game that implicates them in the Duck House tragedy, their families must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice to help their children.

    Generous in spirit, unaffected in its intelligence, multi-voiced, poignant, and darkly funny,Number One Chinese Restaurant looks beyond red tablecloths and silkscreen murals to share an unforgettable story about youth and aging, parents and children, and all the ways that our families destroy us while also keeping us grounded and alive.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. The Showrunner
    by Kim Moritsugu Canada
    Dundurn Press
    Jun 02, 2018
    FICTION / Women
    Paperback / softback
    The Showrunner
    by Kim Moritsugu Canada
    Dundurn Press
    Jun 02, 2018
    FICTION / Women
    Paperback / softback
    The hiring of a new assistant triggers a power struggle between an aging TV show creator and her former protégée.

    Rising-star showrunner Stacey McCreedy has one goal: to leave behind her nerd-girl origins and become a power player — like Ann Dalloni, her former mentor and current producing partner. Ann, meanwhile, is feeling her age and losing her mind. But she’ll be damned if she cedes control of their hit primetime TV show to Stacey.

    After Ann hires Jenna, a young actress hoping to restart her stalled career, as an assistant, the relationship between Ann and Stacey deteriorates into a blood feud. Soon, Jenna must choose whom to support and whom to betray to achieve her own ends. And Stacey will find out if she possesses the killer instinct needed to stay on top.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. Jar of Hearts
    by Jennifer Hillier Canada
    Minotaur Books
    Jun 12, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Hardback
    Jar of Hearts
    by Jennifer Hillier Canada
    Minotaur Books
    Jun 12, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Crime
    Hardback

    Nationally Bestselling Author!

    * Winner - Best Novel, 2019 ITW Thriller Award * Authors on the Air Network - Thriller of the Year 2018 *
    Finalist - Anthony Award for Best Novel * Finalist - Macavity Award for Best Novel * MysteryTribune Ten Women Mystery and Thriller Writers You Should be Reading * Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best of 2018 * Bustle’s Best Thriller 11 Authors Read This Year * CrimeReads’ 20 Best of 2018 * Writer Types Podcast Favorite Books * LitReactor Best Books of 2018 * CrimeReads Favorite Crime Books of the Year * BOLO Books Top Reads of 2018 * SouthFlorida.com Best Mystery Novels of 2018 * Suspense Magazine Best of 2018 - Mystery/Thriller category

    "Jar of Hearts grabs you by the throat! The perfect blend of riveting characters, chilling details, and gasping twists in this standout thriller will keep you frantically reading until the explosive end.” – Lisa Gardner, New York Times bestselling author of Right Behind You

    This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years . . .

    When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.

    But fourteen years later, Angela Wong's remains are discovered in the woods near Geo's childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.

    To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he's something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo's first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed.

    For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela's death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison.

    While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.

    How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it? Find out in Jennifer Hillier's Jar of Hearts.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. An Ocean of Minutes
    by Thea Lim Canada
    Viking
    Jun 26, 2018
    FICTION / Dystopian
    Paperback / softback
    An Ocean of Minutes
    by Thea Lim Canada
    Viking
    Jun 26, 2018
    FICTION / Dystopian
    Paperback / softback
    Shortlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize
    Longlisted for the 2019 CBC Canada Reads
    Longlisted for the 2019 Sunburst Award

    An unforgettable love story of two people who are at once mere weeks and many years apart, for readers of Station Eleven.


    America is in the grip of a deadly flu pandemic. When Frank catches the virus, his girlfriend Polly will do whatever it takes to save him, even if it means risking everything. She agrees to a radical plan. Time travel has been invented; if she signs up for a one-way trip into the future to work as a bonded labourer, the company will pay for the life-saving treatment Frank needs. Polly promises to meet Frank again in Galveston, Texas, where she will arrive in twelve years.
    But when Polly is re-routed an extra five years into the future, Frank is nowhere to be found. Alone in a changed and divided America, with no status and no money, Polly must navigate a terrifying new world to find Frank, to discover if he is alive, and to see if their love has endured.
    An Ocean of Minutes is a gorgeous, devastating novel about courage, yearning, the cost of holding onto the past--and the price of letting it go.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Spying on Whales
    by Nick Pyenson
    Viking
    Jun 26, 2018
    NATURE / Animals / Mammals
    Hardback
    Spying on Whales
    by Nick Pyenson
    Viking
    Jun 26, 2018
    NATURE / Animals / Mammals
    Hardback
    “A palaeontological howdunnit…[Spying on Whales] captures the excitement of…seeking answers to deep questions in cetacean science.” —Nature

    Called “the best of science writing” (Edward O. Wilson) and named a best book by Popular Science, a dive into the secret lives of whales, from their four-legged past to their perilous present.


    Whales are among the largest, most intelligent, deepest diving species to have ever lived on our planet. They evolved from land-roaming, dog-sized creatures into animals that move like fish, breathe like us, can grow to 300,000 pounds, live 200 years and travel entire ocean basins. Whales fill us with terror, awe, and affection--yet there is still so much we don't know about them. Why did it take whales over 50 million years to evolve to such big sizes, and how do they eat enough to stay that big? How did their ancestors return from land to the sea--and what can their lives tell us about evolution as a whole? Importantly, in the sweepstakes of human-driven habitat and climate change, will whales survive?

    Nick Pyenson's research has given us the answers to some of our biggest questions about whales. He takes us deep inside the Smithsonian's unparalleled fossil collections, to frigid Antarctic waters, and to the arid desert in Chile, where scientists race against time to document the largest fossil whale site ever found. Full of rich storytelling and scientific discovery, Spying on Whales spans the ancient past to an uncertain future--all to better understand the most enigmatic creatures on Earth.
    View this title on BNC CataList

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