When your birthday falls on a Tuesday (AKA, New Release Day) like mine (Aimee’s) does today, it’s like getting a ton of gifts from the book universe. Take a look at what special surprises came to The Haunted Book Shop this week!
Local Author Release!
We are so excited for local author Gabriella Saab’s debut novel The Last Checkmate! If you binged The Queen’s Gambit earlier this year, you will love this book! Maria, a young Polish resistance worker imprisoned in Auschwitz during World War II, plays chess matches to spare her life. In doing so, she fights to bring the man who destroyed her family to justice. Gabriella was so gracious to provide The Haunted Book Shop with signed copies of The Last Checkmate, so be sure to come by (or order) a copy!
Fiction
When you work in a shop with a name like The Haunted Book Shop, it’s no surprise that people come in wanting spooky, haunting ghost stories. The Wrong Turning: Encounters with Ghosts is sure to fit that bill! Edited by Stephen Johnson, this collection includes stories of ghostly encounters spanning world literature, from Europe to Russia, from the United States to China. Enjoy old favorites and discover new scary stories in this collection!
Fans of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe will find familiar characters and questions in Patti Callahan’s Once Upon a Wardrobe. Megs Devonshire is driven to solve the great mysteries of physics, with her talents with numbers and equations taking her all the way to Oxford on a scholarship. But with her beloved younger brother George facing a terminal illness, Megs finds herself seeking answers for George that defy logic – namely, where Narnia, the land from George’s favorite book, came from. Follow along as Megs searches for answers and hope in this story about sibling bonds and family love.
Horror
A creepy story of a haunted house and steeped in Japanese folklore, Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw is a spine-tingling adventure that will stay with you long after the book ends. A bride-to-be has always dreamed of getting married in a haunted house and jumps at the chance to spend a weekend with friends in an abandoned Heian mansion rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a woman whose fiancé died before they could marry. The woman buried herself alive and forces a girl to be buried with her every year to keep her company. As the weekend devolves from fun and games into something more sinister, it seems that there might be more to the story than just rumors. Readers are sure to squirm at this lyrical, twisting story of grief, relationships, and the consequences of our actions.
Romance
Jen DeLuca’s Well Matched find soon-to-be empty nester (and single mom) April Parker looking to move on from her little town. She calls on old friend Mitch Malone to help her get the house ready to sell. Mitch agrees – as long as April will go with him to a family dinner and pretend to be his girlfriend. After dinner turns into a weekend, the plan goes off without a hitch and the two return to real life. But when April volunteers at the local Ren Faire (where Mitch is known for his kilt and toned abs) and runs into Mitch’s family, the game is on again. But could there actually be something here? You’ll have to pick up a copy and find out!
Science Fiction
Now available in paperback, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini finds main character Kira on a routine space mission to an uncolonized planet. When she discovers an alien relic she is initially excited, but excitement soon turns to fear as the ancient dust around her begins to move. Soon war breaks out among the stars and Kira must grapple with her own horrors as Earth and its colonies face annihilation.
Manga
It’s near impossible to defeat a mighty hero who won’t stay dead, as Monster Guild: The Dark Lord’s (No-Good) Comeback Vol. 1 shows us. The Dark Lord is stuck in a loop where he battles a good guy who won’t stay dead, and he finally loses the fight and meets his own end…or so it would seem. The Dark Lord actually saved himself by putting his soul into an empty vessel, and now he’s about to stage his own comeback. Weak but determined, he recruits his newfound fellowship of misfits—a slime, an orc, an ifrit, and a dark elf— to help him rebuild his evil empire, one bumbling step at a time.
Young Adult
I think I’ll let The Haunted Book Shop’s Candice introduce Lauren Blackwood’s Within These Wicked Walls: “I had immediate grabby hands for this debut when I learned it combined Jane Eyre gothic chills with Ethiopian Evil Eye folklore.” Andromeda was trained as as a debtera — an exorcist who cleanses houses of evil spirits — though her mentor refuses to license her officially. When the handsome young heir Magnus Rochester reaches out to hire her, she jumps at the chance. But the house, and Magnus, are hiding secrets far beyond what Andromeda ever imagined. Beginning to fall in love with Magnus, Andromeda knows that staying means risking death. But leaving doesn’t feel like an option either. See what happens in this engrossing fantasy retelling of a classic story!
Kids
Caela Carter’s Fifty-Four Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers is a young girl named – what else- Gwendolyn Rogers. Gwendolyn has a lot of problems but no one seems to be able to get to the bottom of them. But Gwendolyn knows there is not just one problem, but 54 problems, according to a confidential school report she found while snooping. If she wants to go to horse camp with her half-brother Tyler, Gwendolyn must figure out how get these 54 problems under control. Follow along as Gwendolyn finds her way in this personal story of patience, support, and determination in finding a diagnosis for developmental issues that oftentimes get ignored.
The latest entry in the popular Who Would Win? series, Ultimate Reptile Rumble pits sixteen different reptiles against each other in one epic fight! Readers will learn about each reptile’s anatomy, behavior and more through photos, illustrations, and facts. You’ll be excited to see who comes out on top!
Join Phoebe on her latest adventure in Unicorn Playlist: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure! Best friends Phoebe and Marigold march to their own beat, but it isn’t all rainbows and unicorns for the pair. With drama at school and the other problems of the world, Phoebe doesn’t understand why unicorns can’t be in charge of the world instead of people. But Marigold brings magic to every day, introducing Phoebe to unicorn magic, crashing a goblin party, and finding long-lost family members like Infernus, the (surprisingly adorable) Unicorn of Death. Come along with this dynamic duo as they play all the hits!
Non-Fiction
In 2013, film and culture critic Zeba Blay was one of the first people to coin the viral term #carefreeblackgirls on Twitter. As she says, it was “a way to carve out a space of celebration and freedom for Black women online.” In Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture, Blay expands on this idea through a series of essays that examine “the work and lasting achievements of influential Black women in American culture–writers, artists, actresses, dancers, hip-hop stars–whose contributions often come in the face of bigotry, misogyny, and stereotypes.”
Humor
I don’t think I could introduce Megan Lynn Kott’s Pawmistry: Unlocking the Secrets of the Universe with Cats better than this: It is a “tongue-in-cheek guide to the feline oracle and the supernatural signs your cat may leave behind…this playful and informative book offers instruction in a number of types of divination to practice with your cat, where messages and portents may be delivered by scattered cat toys, particular tail positions, and sleeping on your face.” Intrigued? Wondering what messages your cat might be trying to tell you? Better pick up a copy today!
Fun & Games
Austen fans will enjoy playing their favorite card games with these Jane Austen Playing Cards! Featuring gorgeous illustrations of all your favorite characters, the traditional four suits are themed on character traits, with hearts for Heroes and Heroines (like Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy) and spades for Fools and Bores. The pack also includes instructions for playing some of the card games featured in Austen’s novels!
Mind & Body
Discover how to use the moon as a cosmic timer with Moonology Manifestations, a magical 48-card oracle from bestselling Moonologer Yasmin Boland. Featuring beautiful cosmic collage imagery, each card explains what you’re bringing into your life, and how and when to supercharge your manifesting powers to achieve what you most desire.
Visit our website for information on these titles and more! And don’t forget – if we don’t have a book in stock we are more than happy to order it for you, or you can visit our Bookshop page!
We hope to see you soon!
