July 2018 Adult Top 10 Picks

← Return to Archive Sign up for our mailing list
  1. Her Pretty Face
    by Robyn Harding Canada
    Gallery/Scout Press
    Jul 10, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Her Pretty Face
    by Robyn Harding Canada
    Gallery/Scout Press
    Jul 10, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    The author of the bestselling novel The Party—lauded as “tense and riveting” by New York Times bestselling author Megan Mirandareturns with a chilling new domestic drama about two women whose deep friendship is threatened by dark, long-buried secrets.

    Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat.

    A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester’s world. But after a disturbing incident at the school leads the other children and their families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before.

    Until she meets Kate Randolph.

    Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not interested in being friends with any of the other Forrester moms—only Frances. As the two bond over their disdain of the Forrester snobs and the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling secret threatens to tear them apart.

    Because one of these women is not who she seems. Her real name is Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer.

    In her masterful follow-up to The Party, Robyn Harding spins a web of lies, deceit, and betrayal, asking the question: Can people ever change? And even if they can, is it possible to forgive the past?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. The Last Time I Lied
    by Riley Sager
    Dutton
    Jul 03, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The Last Time I Lied
    by Riley Sager
    Dutton
    Jul 03, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    In this New York Times bestselling thriller from the author of Lock Every Door and Final Girls, a young woman returns to her childhood summer camp to uncover the truth about a tragedy that happened there fifteen years ago.

    Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin into the darkness. The last she--or anyone--saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

    Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings--massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor. Seeing an opportunity to find out what really happened to her friends all those years ago, Emma agrees.

    Familiar faces, unchanged cabins, and the same dark lake haunt Nightingale, even though the camp is opening its doors for the first time since the disappearances. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, but soon discovers a security camera--the only one on the property--pointed directly at its door. Then cryptic clues that Vivian left behind about the camp's twisted origins begin surfacing. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing mysterious threats in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale and what really happened to those girls, the more she realizes that closure could come at a deadly price.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. Give Me Your Hand
    by Megan Abbott
    Little, Brown and Company
    Jul 17, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    Give Me Your Hand
    by Megan Abbott
    Little, Brown and Company
    Jul 17, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Psychological
    Hardback
    One of Entertainment Weekly's Most Anticipated Books of 2018

    A mesmerizing psychological thriller about how a secret can bind two friends together forever...or tear them apart.


    Kit Owens harbored only modest ambitions for herself when the mysterious Diane Fleming appeared in her high school chemistry class. But Diane's academic brilliance lit a fire in Kit, and the two developed an unlikely friendship. Until Diane shared a secret that changed everything between them.

    More than a decade later, Kit thinks she's put Diane behind her forever and she's begun to fulfill the scientific dreams Diane awakened in her. But the past comes roaring back when she discovers that Diane is her competition for a position both women covet, taking part in groundbreaking new research led by their idol. Soon enough, the two former friends find themselves locked in a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that threatens to destroy them both.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. You're on an Airplane
    by Parker Posey
    Blue Rider Press
    Jul 24, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts
    Hardback
    You're on an Airplane
    by Parker Posey
    Blue Rider Press
    Jul 24, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts
    Hardback
    A National Bestseller

    Have you ever wondered what it would be like talk to Parker Posey? On an airplane, with Parker as your seat companion, perhaps? Parker’s irreverent, hilarious, and enchanting memoir gives you the opportunity. Full of personal stories, whimsical how-tos, recipes, and beautiful handmade collages created by the author herself, You’re On an Airplane is a delight in every way.


    In her first book, actress and star of movies such as Dazed and Confused, Party Girl, You’ve Got Mail, The House of Yes, and so many more, Posey opens up about the art of acting, life on the set, and the realities of its accompanying fame. A funny and colorful southern childhood prepared Posey for a life of creating and entertaining, which not only extends to acting but to the craft of pottery, sewing, collage, yoga, and cooking, all of which readers will find in this whimsical, hilarious, always entertaining book. Parker takes us into her childhood home, behind the scenes of the indie film revolution in the 90s, the delightful absurdity of the big-budget genre thrillers she’s turned into art in a whole new way, and the creativity that will always be part of both her acting and her personal life.

    With Posey’s memorable, hilarious, and poignant voice, her book gives the reader a feeling of traveling through not only a memoir, but an exploration, meditation, and celebration of what it means to be an artist. Buckle up and enjoy the journey.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Snap
    by Belinda Bauer
    Atlantic Monthly Press
    Jul 13, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    Snap
    by Belinda Bauer
    Atlantic Monthly Press
    Jul 13, 2018
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback

    LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

    From award-winning crime writer Belinda Bauer, “the true heir to the great Ruth Rendell” [Mail on Sunday (UK)], Snap is a gripping novel about a teenage boy’s hunt for his mother’s killer.

    Jack’s in charge, said his mother as she disappeared up the road to get help. I won’t be long. Now eleven-year-old Jack and his two sisters wait on the hard shoulder in their stifling, broken-down car, bickering and whining and playing I-Spy until she comes back.

    But their mother doesn’t come back. She never comes back. And after that long, hot summer’s day, nothing will ever be the same again.

    Three years later, Jack’s fifteen now and still in charge . . . alone in the house. Meanwhile across town, a young woman called Catherine While wakes to find a knife beside her bed, and a note reading I could of killed you. The police are tracking a mysterious burglar they call Goldilocks, for his habit of sleeping in the beds of the houses he robs, but Catherine doesn’t see the point of involving the police. And Jack, very suddenly, may be on the verge of finding out who killed his mother.

    A twisty, masterfully written novel that will have readers on the edge of their seats, Snap is Belinda Bauer at the height of her powers.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. Dear Mrs. Bird
    by AJ Pearce
    Scribner
    Jul 03, 2018
    FICTION / Historical / General
    Hardback
    Dear Mrs. Bird
    by AJ Pearce
    Scribner
    Jul 03, 2018
    FICTION / Historical / General
    Hardback
    This charming, irresistible debut novel set in London during World War II about a young woman who longs to be a war correspondent and inadvertantly becomes a secret advice columnist is “a jaunty, heartbreaking winner” (People)—for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Lilac Girls.

    Emmeline Lake and her best friend Bunty are doing their bit for the war effort and trying to stay cheerful, despite the German planes making their nightly raids. Emmy dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent, and when she spots a job advertisement in the newspaper she seizes her chance; but after a rather unfortunate misunderstanding, she finds herself typing letters for the formidable Henrietta Bird, renowned advice columnist of Woman’s Friend magazine.

    Mrs. Bird is very clear: letters containing any Unpleasantness must go straight into the bin. But as Emmy reads the desperate pleas from women who many have Gone Too Far with the wrong man, or can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she begins to secretly write back to the readers who have poured out their troubles.

    “Fans of Jojo Moyes will enjoy AJ Pearce’s debut, with its plucky female characters and fresh portrait of women’s lives in wartime Britain” (Library Journal)—a love letter to the enduring power of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and the courage of ordinary people in extraordinary times. “Headlined by its winning lead character, who always keeps carrying on, Pearce's novel is a delight” (Publishers Weekly). Irrepressibly funny and enormously moving, Dear Mrs. Bird is “funny and poignant…about the strength of women and the importance of friendship” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. In the Middle Are the Horsemen
    by Tik Maynard Canada
    Trafalgar Square Books
    Jul 06, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Sports
    Paperback / softback
    In the Middle Are the Horsemen
    by Tik Maynard Canada
    Trafalgar Square Books
    Jul 06, 2018
    BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Sports
    Paperback / softback
    In 2008, 26–year–old Tik Maynard faced a crossroads not unlike that of other young adults. A university graduate and modern pentathlete, he suffered both a career–ending injury and a painful breakup, leaving him suddenly adrift. The son of prominent Canadian equestrians, Maynard decided to spend the next year as a working student." In the horse industry, working students aspire to become professional riders or trainers, and willingly trade labor for hands–on education. Here Maynard chronicles his experiences–good and bad–and we follow along as one year becomes three, what began as a casual adventure gradually transforms, and a life's purpose comes sharply into focus. Over time, Maynard evolved under the critical eyes of Olympians, medal winners, and world–renowned figures in the horse world, including Anne Kursinski, Johann Hinnemann, Ingrid Klimke, David and Karen O'Connor, Bruce Logan, and Ian Millar. He was ignored, degraded, encouraged, and praised. He was hired and fired, told he had the "wrong body type to ride" and that he had found his "destiny." He got married and lost loved ones. Through it all he studied the horse, and human nature, and howthe two can find balance. And in that journey, he may have found himself. "
    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. Suicide Club
    by Rachel Heng
    Henry Holt and Co.
    Jul 10, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback
    Suicide Club
    by Rachel Heng
    Henry Holt and Co.
    Jul 10, 2018
    FICTION / Literary
    Hardback

    "A provocative new author. A fascinating debut novel. Read it!” —Jeff VanderMeer

    In Rachel Heng's debut set in near future New York City—where lives last three hundred years and the pursuit of immortality is all-consuming—Lea must choose between her estranged father and her chance to live forever.

    Lea Kirino is a “Lifer,” which means that a roll of the genetic dice has given her the potential to live forever—if she does everything right. And Lea is an overachiever. She’s a successful trader on the New York exchange—where instead of stocks, human organs are now bought and sold—she has a beautiful apartment, and a fiancé who rivals her in genetic perfection. And with the right balance of HealthTech™, rigorous juicing, and low-impact exercise, she might never die.

    But Lea’s perfect life is turned upside down when she spots her estranged father on a crowded sidewalk. His return marks the beginning of her downfall as she is drawn into his mysterious world of the Suicide Club, a network of powerful individuals and rebels who reject society’s pursuit of immortality, and instead choose to live—and die—on their own terms. In this future world, death is not only taboo; it’s also highly illegal. Soon Lea is forced to choose between a sanitized immortal existence and a short, bittersweet time with a man she has never really known, but who is the only family she has left in the world.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. When the Flood Falls
    by J.E. Barnard Canada
    Dundurn Press
    Jul 14, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Paperback / softback
    When the Flood Falls
    by J.E. Barnard Canada
    Dundurn Press
    Jul 14, 2018
    FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths
    Paperback / softback
    2016 Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel — Winner

    When a phantom stalker targets her friend, Lacey McCrae’s crime-busting skills are tested to their limits.

    With her career in tatters and her marriage receding in the rear-view mirror, ex-RCMP corporal Lacey McCrae trades her uniform for a tool belt, and the Lower Mainland for the foothills west of Calgary. Amid the oil barons, hockey stars, and other high rollers who inhabit the wilderness playground is her old university roommate, Dee Phillips. Dee’s glossy life was shaken by a reckless driver; now she’s haunted by a nighttime prowler only she can hear.

    As snowmelt swells the icy river, threatening the only bridge back to civilization, Lacey must make the call: assume Dee’s in danger and get her out, or decide the prowler is imaginary and stay, cut off from help if the bridge is swept away.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Indianapolis
    by Lynn Vincent
    Simon & Schuster
    Jul 10, 2018
    HISTORY / Military / Naval
    Hardback
    Indianapolis
    by Lynn Vincent
    Simon & Schuster
    Jul 10, 2018
    HISTORY / Military / Naval
    Hardback
    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “GRIPPING…THIS YARN HAS IT ALL.” —USA Today * “A WONDERFUL BOOK.” —Christian Science Monitor * “ENTHRALLING.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * “A MUST-READ.” —Booklist (starred review)

    A human drama unlike any other—the riveting and definitive full story of the worst sea disaster in United States naval history.

    Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, days after delivering the components of the atomic bomb from California to the Pacific Islands in the most highly classified naval mission of the war, USS Indianapolis is sailing alone in the center of the Philippine Sea when she is struck by two Japanese torpedoes. The ship is instantly transformed into a fiery cauldron and sinks within minutes. Some 300 men go down with the ship. Nearly 900 make it into the water alive. For the next five nights and four days, almost three hundred miles from the nearest land, the men battle injuries, sharks, dehydration, insanity, and eventually each other. Only 316 will survive.

    For the better part of a century, the story of USS Indianapolis has been understood as a sinking tale. The reality, however, is far more complicated—and compelling. Now, for the first time, thanks to a decade of original research and interviews with 107 survivors and eyewit­nesses, Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic tell the complete story of the ship, her crew, and their final mission to save one of their own.

    It begins in 1932, when Indianapolis is christened and launched as the ship of state for President Franklin Roosevelt. After Pearl Harbor, Indianapolis leads the charge to the Pacific Islands, notching an unbroken string of victories in an uncharted theater of war. Then, under orders from President Harry Truman, the ship takes aboard a superspy and embarks on her final world-changing mission: delivering the core of the atomic bomb to the Pacific for the strike on Hiroshima. Vincent and Vladic provide a visceral, moment-by-moment account of the disaster that unfolds days later after the Japanese torpedo attack, from the chaos on board the sinking ship to the first moments of shock as the crew plunge into the remote waters of the Philippine Sea, to the long days and nights during which terror and hunger morph into delusion and desperation, and the men must band together to survive.

    Then, for the first time, the authors go beyond the men’s rescue to chronicle Indianapolis’s extraordinary final mission: the survivors’ fifty-year fight for justice on behalf of their skipper, Captain Charles McVay III, who is wrongly court-martialed for the sinking. What follows is a captivating courtroom drama that weaves through generations of American presidents, from Harry Truman to George W. Bush, and forever entwines the lives of three captains—McVay, whose life and career are never the same after the scandal; Mochitsura Hashimoto, the Japanese sub commander who sinks Indianapolis but later joins the battle to exonerate McVay; and William Toti, the captain of the modern-day submarine Indianapolis, who helps the survivors fight to vindicate their captain.

    A sweeping saga of survival, sacrifice, justice, and love, Indianapolis stands as both groundbreaking naval history and spellbinding narrative—and brings the ship and her heroic crew back to full, vivid, unforgettable life. It is the definitive account of one of the most remarkable episodes in American history.
    View this title on BNC CataList

Sign up for our mailing list!

Sign up for the latest top 10 lists and other news about Loan Stars. You can unsubscribe at any time.


Sign up!