Intrigued? Read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Summer of Love by Kerri Maher, which releases on July 7th 2026.

It’s the summer of 1967 and the counterculture revolution is in full swing in San Francisco. Every street is alive with the music of Jim Morrison and Dionne Warwick, and in view of the Golden Gate bridge young people come together, waving anti-war signs and shouting for equal rights. No one is more into the messages of love and peace than Winnie Hartley who has just graduated from UC Berkeley determined to use poetry to capture the ever-shifting world around her. When she reconnects with her high school boyfriend, an aspiring musician, their creative bond further fuels her work, and it feels like her life is finally taking off.

Meanwhile, miles up the winding coast, her sister Miranda stays close to home, throwing herself into running the family business, Hartley Vineyard. She’s determined to make California wine that rivals French. But change is in the air this wild and heady summer, and each sister will make choices that set their lives hurdling down paths neither would have imagined.

Fifty years later, Dawn Hartley stays as far as possible from her family’s famous vineyard, until a work assignment requires her to research the bestselling Vineland novels penned by a famously anonymous author. Determined to discover the identity of this mysterious writer—who seems to know things no one should about her family—Dawn embarks on a soul-searching journey along the windswept coast of California to uncover her family’s secrets even as she’s keeping a big one of her own.

EXCERPT

Dawn

Phoebe missed her mother from the other side of the vines but had no hope of getting back to her until her work here was done.

-Phoebe and the Burning Vines

July 2015

Be in the moment, Dawn, I said to myself, because that was what my yoga teachers and the instructors in the online mindfulness class I took a year ago were always telling me to do. Alfie kept my feet warm in my damp, chilly kitchen while I checked my text messages and waited for coffee to brew. I closed my eyes and focused on the hiss and fragrance of the water hitting the freshly ground beans and the loving heat of my goldendoodle on my toes. He’d been my gift to myself after Clark and I finally broke up, when I’d needed someone to come home to who would be excited to see me even when I couldn’t look in the mirror.

I reminded myself that had I been hungover-like I was most mornings six months ago-I’d be spending money I didn’t have on an inferior paper cup of coffee at the place around the corner, along with a gooey egg sandwich to soak up the acid in my stomach. And I’d be wondering when-if-the fog in my brain would clear and what I could do that might legitimately be called work until it did. I needed to list all the reasons I could think of for not drinking while I reset my system and decided what would come next. I still couldn’t fathom the idea of being alcohol-free forever. And even though I drank the most when I was by myself, it was birthdays and celebrations without the fizzy joy of a glass of champagne that were the hardest to imagine. I did like waking up with a clear head and a completely settled stomach, though, plus enough energy to get to a yoga mat before heading to work. Except when I saw something like this text message from Dennis:

Want to grab a drink Saturday?

A drink.

Why is it always a drink?

Six months ago, before the Incident, I would have been thrilled to throw off the promise I’d made to myself not to drink that day-that week, that month-because I had an excuse: Dennis, the handsome, intriguing professor I’d met at the Berkeley Art Museum, where we were the only two people at 11:00 a.m. on a Tuesday looking at film stills from the career of Elia Kazan. I’d noticed him because how could I not? He looked like a New York City transplant with his brown leather shoes and slim pressed white shirt tucked into well-fitting jeans. And that mop of black hair that hadn’t grayed yet despite the telltale lines near his eyes. The prominent pointy nose. Had he been a Bay Area local, he’d have been wearing Birkenstocks or Tevas on that unusually warm day and probably chinos he’d owned since grad school. I’d been out with so many guys like that. It was getting old.

I was getting old.

I blame the pink cloud of early sobriety-though I hated using that word because of all it implied-for my boldness in sauntering up to him where he was casually looking at a glossy of Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint, and saying, “Did you know Grace Kelly was offered the role and turned it down to do Rear Window?” My heart hammered in my chest even though I knew I looked good that day, having squeezed my nearly forty-year-old self into faded black jeans I’d purchased as a promise to myself not to gain weight while not drinking, as I’d heard so many people did, along with a flowy pale-blue top that showed my tan arms.

Keeping his arms folded across his chest, he gave me a sideways look with a raised eyebrow, and I saw for the first time that his eyes, like mine, were as blue as my shirt. “I did know that, but then, I teach a class on Hitchcock. How do you know this wonderful bit of trivia?”

Oh shit, I thought. Do I have to admit to being a wannabe filmmaker stuck as a set designer creating immersive worlds that revealed character and foreshadowed plot but only ever other people’s plots? I shrugged, buying myself a few seconds. Then, turning back to the picture so I wouldn’t have to hold eye contact, I replied, “I really like movies from the ’50s, especially the Hitchcock ones from that era. I even named my dog Alfred, though I call him Alfie.”

He smiled exactly the kind of smile I hoped to see whenever I mentioned my dog: childlike and warm. “Alfie,” he repeated. “That’s a great name for a dog.” Then he turned back to the picture. “Do you think Saint did the role justice? Or would Kelly have been better?”

“You know, I prefer to be content that she was fabulous in Rear Window. It was obviously the right choice.”

“Agreed. Plus, her legacy doesn’t have to be sullied by having worked with a McCarthy informer.”

“Brando and Leigh and all the other actors he made stars don’t seem to have suffered,” I pointed out.

He chuckled with what I took to be an agreement, then said, “Forgive me, but this is what I’m knee deep in right now. I’m writing an essay on him and some others. What do we do with the great art and feats of politically problematic figures? Kazan, Lindbergh, Pound.”

“Sounds suspiciously like you might be a professor.”

Dropping his arms and looking squarely at me, he said, “Guilty as charged. Professor of film history here at Berkeley. I’m Dennis Schulz. No relation to Charles.” He held out his hand to shake.

His hand was large and warm and dry, and I thought, Is it possible I’m actually meeting someone the old-fashioned way? I didn’t know anyone who met off the dating apps anymore. “Too bad,” I said, “because Snoopy is my hero.”

“Is he now?” Dennis looked genuinely amused.

“I mean . . . Joe Cool? The World War I flying ace? Author of ‘It was a dark and stormy night’?”

Dennis laughed more heartily this time, and I felt a blush bloom in my chest and cheeks. “You got me there,” he said. “I think because of the name I share with his creator, I’ve gotten a little prickly over the years about not being able to get people signed originals of 1960s comic strips.”

“I can see how that would be a burden.”

“And what do you do?”

“I’m a set designer,” I replied, knowing it sounded cooler than it had felt to me for a long time. “And my name is Dawn Hartley.”

Dennis raised impressed eyebrows. “A set designer for films?”

“Mostly television advertisements, theaters, and museums. Some big functions here and there. I’m freelance.” Interesting, I thought to myself, he didn’t comment on my last name. Big wine drinkers were always intrigued by my name and asked if I might be connected to the famous Napa vineyard.

“You must be good, then.”

I shrugged. I was good, but the career wasn’t mine.

We moved on to other movies we loved and eventually books and music, and by the time he said he had to get to his class to teach, we had exchanged numbers.

That was two days ago.

And now . . . a drink? If only it was before I finally admitted to myself that I really needed to stop drinking, at least for a while. If only it was before I’d accumulated more than one hundred days, triple digits, and started feeling healthy for the first time in years. My original three-month goal had turned into those one hundred days and then into six months; I was three weeks away from that lofty half-year milestone. I’d never gotten that far before-the most I’d done was a day, maybe three. Even when I’d set a seven-day goal for myself, I’d always get to Friday, sometimes Thursday, and find a reason to have a glass of something.

The Incident had been galvanizing.

Audrey, my best and only sober friend, was cheering me on toward a year. Her theory was that if I could get that far, I’d never want to go back.

Of course, Audrey also thought I needed meetings and more sober friends than just her. She always said, “No one with long-term sobriety does this alone.” Was that what I wanted, though? To be sober forever? Sober-sober? Did I have to go to meetings and use the word alcoholic, a word I sincerely felt did not describe me?

Audrey hadn’t had a drop of alcohol for seven years, which was nothing short of amazing, given the mess she’d been in college when we first met in the dorms at Columbia. But she managed to make not drinking seem glamorous with her Goop spa treatments, hot yoga, and SoulCycle, all of which made her look even more gorgeous in the billowy caftans and trousers she favored. The Oscar on her mantel from her supporting role in a movie about aliens from when we were both nine didn’t hurt her allure.

I grabbed my phone and called her.

“Dennis just texted to ask if I wanted to have a drink.”

“That’s great!” she chirped into the phone.

“Yeah, but . . . a drink?”

“Coffee is a drink, you know.”

“But a coffee date is so lame,” I said, pouring myself a first cup of my perfectly brewed elixir. Alfie stirred to his feet and looked at me expectantly with a cocked head and wagging tail, so I put Audrey on speaker while I got him some breakfast and fresh water.

“I disagree,” she said.

“Do I have to tell him? You know, that I’m not drinking?”

“How long have you known this guy? An hour? No.”

“Then why should I tell him I’m suggesting coffee? I don’t want him to think I’m not that into him. Going out for a cocktail telegraphs real interest, sex appeal, sophistication . . .”

“So does Royal Coffee.”

“Be serious.”

“I’m dead serious. I once had amazing sex after a mimosa-free brunch in Brooklyn.”

“Once.”

“Do you want to see this guy or not?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then get over it. Suggest Royal. Oh! Or the Japanese Tea Garden.”

“I do love the Tea Garden. . . .”

“See? The Tea Garden. Just do it.”

“Okay.”

But I didn’t.

I hung up with Audrey and started a text to him suggesting coffee or tea, then deleted it. Like, eight times. Finally, I wrote:

Work is nuts at the moment. Next week?

I cringed at myself. Chicken. This is why you’re not a real filmmaker. Though I’d improved over the years, I’d always battled what I’d only realized in the last year was called anxiety. As a kid, I’d been called “nervous,” the kind of student who always got sick-and I mean throwing-up sick-before important tests, who shied away from trying out for the school plays even though I wanted to, who majored in film with the intention of becoming the first female director to be a household name, only to move to San Francisco after graduation for a props job at the Curran Theatre that my mother had secured for me through some old friend of hers. And since I showed a talent for knowing exactly what to add to any set to make it come alive, I’d moved up through the ranks quickly, no doubt due to the many en plein air excursions Mom had taken me on, with my very own easel and paints, where she taught me how not just to see but to imagine what might enhance a scene. Now I could pick my projects, but I always stayed in my lane. I sometimes thought that, too, was part of my success; I didn’t question the higher-ups. Directors knew I’d get the job done without being a diva.

Talking to Dennis at the museum had been very out of character for me, and looking back on it now, my stomach clenched at my own boldness. What had I been thinking?

I needed more time to get my bearings. I needed to not feel unsexy for suggesting coffee instead of a cocktail. I needed to come clean to the people closest to me before I started going on coffee dates with strangers.

I glanced at Mom’s moody depiction of our favorite beach in Carmel that hung over my couch a few feet away, and I felt a pang of guilt. Mom. Miranda Hartley, the first woman vintner in Napa. Mom, who had no idea I was trying to stop drinking. How could I possibly tell her? How could I possibly tell her that I couldn’t handle the thing she made, the beautiful bottles she’d refined and perfected over fifty years, the science and art she’d dedicated her life to. She always insisted winemaking was both science and art, and I wondered if that was because she was a painter at heart. It made me happy to see her indulging this love of hers as she got older, traveling to museums all over Europe and taking various classes abroad.

Mom and I had always shared everything, and here I was not telling her what had become the ruling factor of my life. Lately when she asked me how I was doing, I’d taken to giving her one-word answers like fine and tired, then steering the conversation toward something not-me, like the highly suspicious pickleball trend or where she was traveling next, all of which went against everything we’d ever been to each other. Dawn and Miranda were the Hartley Girls long before Rory and Lorelai were the Gilmore Girls, with a long-standing Sunday-evening ritual while I was growing up: We’d laze around on the couch eating popcorn and Red Vines while watching whatever old movie was on the local channels, eventually graduating to rented VHS tapes when those came on the market. “No ads!” we gleefully said as we popped one of those into the shiny new machine that made all those satisfying clicks. But Mom always made sure to pause the tapes so we could talk during a few breaks like we always had during commercials. It was during those evenings that I’d share about the girls who were being mean to me, the boys I liked, the teachers I feared.

Mom shared, too-her worries about the vineyard, which included her search for organic pest control, her stress over finding a new head grower after Emilio died suddenly of a heart attack, not to mention her intense sadness at losing such a close friend and colleague. Emilio had been at every family celebration, even after Grandma Joan died, and I shared Mom’s sadness in losing him. My father was the only subject that had ever been off-limits. “He was a typical artist and didn’t want to be a father, and he asked not to be contacted” was all she’d said. When my eyes filled with tears and I sniffled at this blunt information, she put her arm around me and offered a box of tissues and said, “I know, baby. It hurts. But really, it’s my fault. I should have known better than to get involved with someone like him. If you need to be mad at anyone, be mad at me.”

Excerpted from Summer of Love by Kerri Maher Copyright © 2026 by Kerri Maher. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Releasing on October 3rd, The Woman at the Wheel is an inspiring historical fiction novel is based on the real life of Bertha Benz, whose husband built the first prototype automobile, which eventually evolved into the Mercedes-Benz marque.

Bertha and Carl Benz were undeniably entrepreneurs. Carl’s vision of creating a horseless carriage at a time when many were yet to trust the steam train was radical. However, it was Bertha who took the pluckiest, first entrepreneurial step when she negotiated a deal with her father, allowing her to invest her dowry and inheritance in Carl’s idea before they married. From there on, Bertha worked alongside Carl behind the scenes to design, build and promote the Benz motorwagen, which became the world’s first commercially viable automobile. For the most part, only her husband knew the extent of her understanding of innovation, business, partnerships, investment, public relations, and market perception. Bertha’s intuition, coupled with her technical and fiduciary knowledge, made her the ideal partner for Carl, whose primary strengths were his engineering brilliance and resourcefulness as an inventor.

An early reader of The Woman at the Wheel was struck by how many of the challenges encountered by the Benzs in Germany in the 1800s prevail today. “Every modern day, entrepreneurial start-up needs a Bertha in their team. Her story is full of great lessons,” he said.

It’s rewarding to hear that Bertha’s legacy is not only fascinating and encouraging, but also useful. She isn’t the only female entrepreneur who has inspired historical fiction. Here are some other intriguing works of historical fiction based on the lives of real female entrepreneurs.

A Beautiful Rival by Gill Paul

Cosmetic tycoons, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein created the global beauty industry at a time when women were expected to be content with the roles of wives and mothers and the use of make-up was considered improper. Independently, they created potions, lotions and salon treatments, which burgeoned in popularity and made them both millionaires. However, the women were lifelong rivals, each making decisions based on what the other did. A Beautiful Rival is fascinating with almost as many entrepreneurial “how to” as “how not to” lessons.

Carolina Built by Kianna Alexander

Josephine N. Leary was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1856. She trained as a barber. However, when she was freed in the mid-1870s, Josephine set out to learn how to manage money and make shrewd investments in the real estate market. By 1881, she’d acquired six properties in Edenton and, when a fire destroyed some of them, successfully rebuilt the premises, affirming her place as an astute real estate magnate. Carolina Built not only highlights key entrepreneurial qualities but also demonstrates the challenges of maintaining a work-family life balance as an entrepreneur.

The Chanel Sisters by Judithe Little

Written from Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s less famous sister, Antoinette’s perspective, The Chanel Sisters is arguably a handbook to perseverance, independence, and survival. Coco and Antoinette were taken in by Catholic nuns when their mother died and no one—not even their father—wanted them. Eventually, they set out to prove themselves worthy to a society that never welcomed them. Their journey was neither easy nor straightforward, but the sisters were determined, creative and resourceful. The Chanel Sisters reminds us that there are many twists and turns to entrepreneurial success.

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

Based on the life of Dorothy “Doll” Kirwan Thomas, Island Queen tells the extraordinary story of the woman who began her life as a slave and went on to create a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, planter, merchant, and hotelier across the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a luxury hotel in Demerara, South America. Among Doll’s most impressive entrepreneurial qualities were her courage and ability to work the system and retain her autonomy against all odds.

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Although Marjorie Merriweather Post inherited a company from her father when she was twenty-seven, it was her drive and entrepreneurial approach that saw the food company grow into the giant General Foods Corporation. She was inspired by guidelines successful entrepreneurs understand: learn all you can, think for yourself, never take success for granted, know your customers, and work hard. The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post also emphasizes the value of entrepreneurs understanding their business better than anyone else.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

Risk-taking is fundamental to entrepreneurship. The Paris Bookseller is an inspiring account of American bookseller Sylvia Beach, who faced jeopardy head on when she opened Shakespeare and Company in Paris in 1919. Not only was it dicey to establish an English bookstore and lending library in France, but when James Joyce’s controversial novel Ulysses was banned, Sylvia took the huge risk of publishing it. The success of the book came with costs, which mounted with the onset of the Depression and the departure from Paris of throngs of English readers. Aside of risk-taking, Sylvia’s entrepreneurship was also demonstrated by her passion for books, authors and readers, knowledge about her market and Paris, and willingness to support others in her industry.

The post Historical Fiction Based On Real Female Entrepreneurs appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Kerri! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Hi! Thanks so much for having me. Let’s see…. I live outside of Boston, I write historical fiction, and I recently started teaching again in the Emerson MFA program in Popular Fiction, which I love. When I’m not writing and teaching, I’m usually walking my dog, swimming, or chauffeuring my active 13 year old daughter around. I also love to travel, fiddle around with watercolor paints, and arrange fresh flowers.  Sometimes I like to cook.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I wrote my first unfinished novel in 5^th grade. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, ever since devouring the Ramona Quimby and Homecoming books as a kid.

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss; Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett; Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus!

Your latest novel, All You Have to Do Is Call, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Women Standing Up For Women. (Inclusively – if I can add a 6^th word!)

What can readers expect?

Although All You Have To Do is Call has themes in common with my previous novels—like strong, independent women making their way in the world, against the odds—this book is also different in some key ways.  Instead of writing from the point of view of one real-life woman, I’m writing from the perspectives of several entirely made-up women.  And since the novel covers a shorter span of time than the biographical novels I’ve written before, it has a faster pace. Readers can expect some moments of high drama, and a deep dive into what it means to be a woman—as individuals, friends, mothers, lovers, wives, providers, professors….all the things.

Where did the inspiration for All You Have to Do Is Call come from?

In 2018, I was listening to NPR on my way to meet a friend for a movie and heard an amazing news story about the women of Jane in 1970s Chicago—how regular women just like me had learned to give safe abortions to other women, illegally and inexpensively but safely and with dignity.  I was amazed and inspired and immediately knew I had to write about them.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I love every last character in this cast.  It’s impossible to pick a favorite.  But I will say that a scene I wrote in a very late draft keeps coming back to me: Margaret and her boyfriend’s young daughter Charlie have a conversation about Charlie’s mother Siobhan at a crucial moment in the story.  All I’ll say is that it involves Joan of Arc. But no spoilers here!

This is your fourth published novel! What are some of the key lessons you have learned when it comes to writing and the publishing world?

Find your people. Build your community. Trust your team. Lean in.

What’s next for you?

I just signed a contract for two more books with Berkley, and I couldn’t be happier! I’m in the early stages of researching and writing Summer of Love, a dual timeline novel alternating between the 1960s and 2010s and set in the California wine country and the San Francisco counter-culture revolution.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I’ve read so many great books this past year! In no particular order: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez; Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin; Circe by Madeline Miller; Vigil Harbor by Julia Glass (Glass is one of very few authors whose books I’ve read ALL of, and her latest is amazing).

Will you be picking up All You Have to Do Is Call? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Kerri Maher, Author of ‘All You Have to Do Is Call’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in  the comments below if you will be picking up any!

The September House by Carissa Orlando
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A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison
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A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.

Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
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In 1960, a young woman discovers a freedom she never knew existed in this exhilarating, funny, and emotional novel by the bestselling author of She’s Up to No Good.

Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian
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From bestselling author Alex Grecian comes a folk horror epic about a ragtag posse that must track down a witch through a wild west beset by demons and ghosts―and where death is always just around the bend.

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott
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A mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
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A new mystery is afoot in the fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series from million-copy bestselling author Richard Osman.

Fair Rosaline by Natasha Solomons
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Bold, lyrical, and chillingly relevant, Fair Rosaline reveals the dark subtext of the timeless story of star-crossed lovers: it’s a feminist revision that will enthrall readers of bestselling literary retellings such as Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell and Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese.

Hush Harbor by Anise Vance
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A resistance group takes America’s racial reckoning into its own hands in this powerful, stirringly original debut novel.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon
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A lighthearted whodunnit about a grandmother-mother-daughter trio of amateur sleuths. Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.

The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey
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Two girls vanished. A woman buried alive. Between two crimes lie decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by the Edgar Award–nominated author of Unspeakable Things.

The Art of Desire by Stacey Abrams
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One doomed love affair after another has made Alex Walton swear off men. Now, she’s determined to try something that maybe she can succeed at: a writing career. Little does she know that a chance meeting with a strikingly handsome stranger, a mysterious obelisk, and a lost kingdom will change her life forever. As Alex is about to discover, truth can be stranger—and far more dangerous—than fiction.

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown
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Emmy-nominated actress and producer MILLIE BOBBY BROWN’s debut novel, Nineteen Steps, is a moving tale of love, longing, and loss, inspired by the true events of her family’s experience during World War II.

Holly by Stephen King
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Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King’s most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
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Two women from opposite sides of the country are brought together by violent acts of the same man, and become allies and sisters in arms as they pursue the justice that would otherwise elude them in one of the most acclaimed, highly-anticipated thrillers of the year.

Penance by Eliza Clark
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From the author of the cult hit Boy Parts comes a chilling, brilliantly told story of murder among a group of teenage girls—a powerful and disturbing novel as piercing in its portrait of young women as Emma Cline’s The Girls.

Her Sweet Revenge by Sarah Bonner
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Helena is successful, beautiful, and living in married bliss. But she has a secret that proves to be deadly – literally. Her best friend Thea knows Helena’s death wasn’t an accident. It was murder, and she is determined to make someone pay. And as they say… revenge is sweet.

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
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Mega-bestselling British crime novelist Cara Hunter makes her big American debut with a wholly immersive thriller like none you’ve seen before: written as the teleplay of a true-crime documentary, it has the reader puzzling away, reviewing photos, maps, coroner’s reports and other evidence as they read.

The Fraud by Zadie Smith
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From acclaimed and bestselling novelist Zadie Smith, a kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed.

Rouge by Mona Awad
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From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate—and find a connection that is more than skin deep?

The Royal Windsor Secret by Christine Wells
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Could she be the secret daughter of the Prince of Wales? In this dazzling novel by the author of Sisters of the Resistance, a young woman seeks to discover the truth about her mysterious past. Perfect for readers of Shana Abe, Bryn Turnbull, and Marie Benedict. 

All You Have To Do Is Call by Kerri Maher
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A dramatic and inspiring novel based on the true story of the Jane Collective and the brave women who fought for our right to choose, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Bookseller.

Perfectly Nice Neighbors by Kia Abdullah
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A twisty and consuming thriller, Perfectly Nice Neighbors asks: When your dream home comes with nightmare neighbors, how far will you go to keep your family safe?

The Golden Gate by Amy Chua
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Amy Chua’s debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.

The Stranger Upstairs by Lisa M. Matlin
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A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut.

What releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post September 2023 Fiction Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments if you’re looking forward to any of them!

The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder
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Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones in this thrilling fairytale retelling for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and All the Stars and Teeth. Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy full of adventure, romance, found family, and snark.

Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier
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A destitute woman deceives her way into the guesthouse of a Hollywood Hills mansion and inadvertently becomes a target in the twisted game of the wealthy family upstairs in the next intoxicating novel from Eliza Jane Brazier.

Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon
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A TV meteorologist and a sports reporter scheme to reunite their divorced bosses with unforecasted results in this charming romantic comedy from the author of The Ex Talk.

The Amber Crown by Jacey Bedford
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In this new epic fantasy, three societal outcasts must work together to fulfill the orders of a dead king’s ghost or risk their nation falling to a tyrant

Echoes and Empires by Morgan Rhodes
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From the New York Times bestselling author of the Falling Kingdoms series comes the first book in a brand-new duology about forbidden magic and dangerous secrets, for readers of Victoria Aveyard and Margaret Rogerson.

The Ex-Husband by Karen Hamilton
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From international bestselling author Karen Hamilton comes another pulse-pounding domestic thriller set against a lush, tropical backdrop as a woman fleeing her past as a con artist finds herself trapped aboard a cruise ship with someone who not only knows about that past, but will stop at nothing to get revenge.

Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore
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In modern day Los Angeles, a shadowy faction led by the Governor of California develops the arcane art of combat linguistics, planting the seeds of a future totalitarian empire in Scotto Moore’s Battle of the Linguist Mages.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
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The dramatic story of how a humble bookseller fought against incredible odds to bring one of the most important books of the 20th century to the world in this new novel from the author of The Girl in White Gloves.

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi
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In his adult novel debut, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and NAACP Image Award finalist and ALA Alex and New England Book Award winner Tochi Onyebuchi delivers a sweeping science fiction epic in the vein of Samuel R. Delany and Station Eleven.

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long
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Meg Long’s Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a captivating debut about survival, found family, and the bond between a girl and a wolf that delivers a fresh twist on classic survival stories and frontier myths.

Dream, Annie, Dream by Waka T. Brown
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In this empowering deconstruction of the so-called American Dream, a twelve-year-old Japanese American girl named Annie Inoue grapples with, and ultimately rises above, the racism and trials of middle school she experiences while chasing her dreams.

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden
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A stunning supernatural thriller set in Siberia, where a film crew is covering an elusive ghost story about the Kolyma Highway, a road built on top of the bones of prisoners of Stalin’s gulag.

What January 2022 book releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post January 2022 Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips
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“One of the best writers in America” (The Washington Post) delivers a mesmerising new novel in which Queen Elizabeth’s spymasters recruit an unlikely agent for an impossible mission: the only Muslim in England.

Red Letter Days by Sarah-Jane Stratford
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A striking novel from the acclaimed author of Radio Girls about two daring women who escape McCarthy-era Hollywood for London, where they find creative freedom and fight the injustices of the Red Scare.

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
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A powerful, emotional debut novel told in the unforgettable voice of a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to get an education so that she can escape and choose her own future.

Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert
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A storm-struck island. A blood-soaked bed. A missing man. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant believes it all adds up to a killer in their midst—and that murder is a family affair.

The Girl in White Gloves by Kerri Maher
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A vivid reimagining of the exhilarating and sensationalized life of Princess Grace of Monaco from the acclaimed author of The Kennedy Debutante.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
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The story of a vibrant but dysfunctional family trapped together on a ten-day Mediterranean cruise–a riveting, irresistible novel from bestselling author Amanda Eyre Ward

Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West
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Perfect for fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Small Admissions, a wry and cleverly observed debut novel about the privileged bubble that is Liston Heights High–the micro-managing parents, the overworked teachers, and the students caught in the middle–and the fallout for each of them when the bubble finally bursts.

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough
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For fans of Liane Moriarty, Liv Constantine and Lisa Jewell, a twisty psychological thriller about a savvy second wife who will do almost anything to come out on top from the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes.

When I Was You by Minka Kent
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A stolen identity leads a woman down a dark and desperate path in a gripping novel of psychological suspense by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Minka Kent.

The Love Story of the Century by Märta Tikkanen and Stina Katchadourian
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As much a story of resilience as it is suffering, The Love Story of the Century is a bittersweet account of the complexities of addiction, the power of creativity, and the redemption of love.

House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild
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From the author of The Improbability of Love a dazzling novel both satirical and moving, about an eccentric, dysfunctional family of English aristocrats, and their crumbling stately home that reminds us how the lives and hopes of women can still be shaped by the ties of family and love.

Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman
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Harrowing loss, psychological trauma, and a deadly mystery test the human will to survive in this electrifying novel from award-winning author Brian Freeman.

Will you be picking up any of these releases? Tell us in the comments below!

The post February 2020 Book Releases: Fiction appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below which one you are most excited for!

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox
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New Oldbury, 1821 In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia, and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline. All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end…

A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts by Therese Anne Fowler
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The riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family in as they rule Gilded-Age New York, from the New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele
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After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded Long Island mansion of her new fiancé Max Winter—a wealthy politician and recent widower—and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter Dani makes her life a living hell.

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
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The much-anticipated new novel from the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of 1Q84 and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Killing Commendatore is an epic tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art–as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby–and a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.

The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher
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A captivating novel following the exploits of Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, the forgotten and rebellious daughter of one of America’s greatest political dynasties.

House of Gold by Natasha Solomons
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The House at Tyneford, an epic family saga about a headstrong Austrian heiress who will be forced to choose between the family she’s made and the family that made her at the outbreak of World War I.

The Reckoning by John Grisham
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Pete Banning was Clanton’s favourite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbour, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning in 1946. he rose early, drove into town, walked into the Church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn’t shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete’s only statement about it—to the sheriff, to his defense attorney, to the judge, to his family and friends, and to the people of Clanton—was “I have nothing to say.” And so the murder of the esteemed Reverend Bell became the most mysterious and unforgettable crime Ford County had ever known.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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In the stories of Adjei-Brenyah’s debut, an amusement park lets players enter augmented reality to hunt terrorists or shoot intruders played by minority actors, a school shooting results in both the victim and gunman stuck in a shared purgatory, and an author sells his soul to a many-tongued god.

You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart
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A harrowing story of tenacious love and heartbreaking betrayal, You Were Always Mine is about the wars we wage to keep the ones we love close, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Jodi Picoult.

What Have You Done by Matthew Farrell
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When a mutilated body is found hanging in a seedy motel in Philadelphia, forensics specialist Liam Dwyer assumes the crime scene will be business as usual. Instead, the victim turns out to be a woman he’d had an affair with before breaking it off to save his marriage. But there’s a bigger problem: Liam has no memory of where he was or what he did on the night of the murder.

We Were Mothers by Katie Sise
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A scandalous revelation is about to devastate a picturesque town where the houses are immaculate and the neighborhoods are tightly knit. Devoted mother Cora O’Connell has found the journal of her friend Laurel’s daughter—a beautiful college student who lives next door—revealing an illicit encounter. Hours later, Laurel makes a shattering discovery of her own: her daughter has vanished without a trace. Over the course of one weekend, the crises of two close families are about to trigger a chain reaction that will expose a far more disturbing web of secrets. Now everything is at stake as they’re forced to confront the lies they have told in order to survive.

Winter In Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
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Irene Steele’s idyllic life-house, husband, family is shattered when she is woken up by a late-night phone call. Her beloved husband has been found dead, but before Irene can process this tragic news, she must confront the perplexing details of her husband’s death. He was found on St. John island, a tropical paradise far removed from their suburban life. Leaving the cold winter behind, Irene flies down to the beautiful Caribbean beaches of St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband had a secret second family. As Irene investigates the mysterious circumstances of her husband’s death, she is plunged into a web of intrigue and deceit belied by the pristine white sand beaches of St. John’s.

A Cloud In The Shape of A Girl by Jean Thompson
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In A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl we see these women and their trials, small and large: social slights and heartbreaks; marital disappointments and infidelities; familial dysfunction; mortality. Spanning from World War II to the present, Thompson reveals a matrilineal love story that is so perfectly grounded in our time—a story of three women regressing, stalling, and yes, evolving, over decades. One of the burning questions she asks is: by serving her family, is a woman destined to repeat the mistakes of previous generations, or can she transcend the expectations of a place, and a time? Can she truly be free?

Little by Edward Carey
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The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.  In the tradition of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Edward Carey’s Little is a darkly endearing cavalcade of a novel–a story of art, class, determination, and how we hold on to what we love.

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink
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From the New York Times bestselling co-author of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead.

The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
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The Rain Watcher is a powerful family drama set in Paris as the Malegarde family gathers to celebrate the father’s 70th birthday. Their hidden fears and secrets are slowly unraveled as the City of Light undergoes a stunning natural disaster. Seen through the eyes of charismatic photographer Linden Malegarde, the youngest son, all members of the family will have to fight to keep their unity against tragic circumstances.

Check out what else is coming out this month on our Goodreads list!

What book are you most excited for? Tell us in the comments below!

The post October Book Releases: Fiction appeared first on The Nerd Daily.