Keep Your Books Organized With DIY Color Block Bookends

1. Dead Money by Jakob Kerr (January 28, 2025)

Mackenzie Clyde's knows how to make the problems of venture capitalists disappear because she's good at her job. Despite not seeing the same kind of profit they do, she doesn't mind making things easier for them. But, being skilled doesn't mean you know how to handle every situation.

Mackenzie's tasked with helping her boss make sure he doesn't lose money after investing in a startup where the CEO's been found dead. She doesn't even know where to begin in her pursuit of narrowing down who could've committed the crime, but she's not going to let anyone down...not when she has a lot to gain from this.

2. Beauty in the Blood by Charlotte Carter (February 11, 2025)

Sarah Toomey's an efficient black lawyer who's not only lost her mother, but may be losing her grip on reality. Her mind doesn't 'normal,' nor does she. Committing acts she normally wouldn't, Sarah's scared there's something more malevolent going on. There's also the fact she's in a relationship with a co-worker that adds to the deep passion coursing through her veins. The more Sarah questions what's going on, the more the truth is unveiled about her family's history.

In an alternate timeline, Yvonne Howard has changed her fate from being a prison guard to working at one of the most popular soul food restaurants. Things are looking up until an ex-inmates asks her to help uncover what happened to her brother. Before she can truly get started, Yvonne learns the ex-inmate has also died. This puts Yvonne on a path she thought she'd escaped from.

Not only that, she'll have to solve the mystery of what keeps attracting black women to violence unless she wants to end up like poor Sarah Toomey.

3. The Girl You Know by Elle Gonzalez Rose (February 18, 2025)

When Luna's twin sister Solina is found dead after announcing she no longer wanted to attend Kingswood Academy, Luna is convinced someone is behind her death. She steps into Solina's shoes and heads to the the academy and realizes a few things:

1. Solina's friends are exactly the kind of people you'd want to be around.
2. Luna is developing a crush on Solina's roommate Claudia.
3. Solina wasn't exactly innocent.

Despite this, Luna doesn't feel her sister deserved to die and will stop at nothing to make sure everyone involved pays for their crimes.

4. Claire, Darlingby Callie Kazumi (March 11, 2025)

Claire's happy existence is thrown into shambles when a surprise visit to her fiancé's job on their anniversary reveals he doesn't work there. Confused, Claire does some digging and realizes he's ghosted her to return to his real life — the one where he's already living with his real girlfriend. Though shocked, all Claire wants is for things to go back to normal between her and Noah.

The more she becomes a modern femme fatale, the more she begins to see parallels between her and the conniving mom she grew up with.

5. All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman (March 11, 2025)

Florence Grimes doesn't take life too seriously except for when it concerns her son Dylan. He's the reason she even tries to be a functioning adult, if she can call it that. However, she's forced to step into her big girl pants when her son's suspected of having something to do with his bully's, Alfie Risby, disappearance during a field trip.

She begins throwing herself into finding young Alfie to prove that her son's innocent even if she's not popular among the other school moms. But, what if she knows her son is hiding a dark secret?

6. Gothictown by Emily Carpenter (March 25, 2025)

Billie Hope decides the perfect way to give her family a fresh start is by accepting a very low offer to move into a beautiful Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia. It has enough space for them to branch out, but she's hoping they can repair their relationship. Plus, she'll get a chance at having a thriving restaurant again.

But there's something eerie about the quaint town of Juliana. Almost like there's something evil lurking behind the scenes of the smiling faces and vast opportunities to have the life she's always wanted.

7. The Matchmakerby Aisha Saeed (April 8, 2025)

Business is booming for matchmaker Nura Khan. She's built the kind of clientele people dream about because she's known for delivering the kind of results they want to see. The best part is no one questions that she's single because her best friend Azar always shows up as her plus-one to weddings. Based on that, people think they're engaged so there's no reason to question her work.

But when someone sabotages the wedding of Nura's clients, she realizes someone is determined to destroy more than her reputation.

8. The Influencersby Anna-Marie McLemore (April 15, 2025)

Known as "Mother May I" Iverson, one of the world's most successful influencers has been in the game for 25 years. She's made a name for herself by sharing cute family videos of her biracial daughters and everyone loves them. However, her daughters never had a say in being featured and have their own feelings about it as adults.

Things take a turn when May's sprawling mansion burns to the ground after her husband is found dead. It seems each of her daughters would have a reason to do so between legal battles and one's surprising disappearance. Yet, the answer to this mysterious crime may not be as simple as anyone thinks.

9. One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman (April 15, 2025)

Known for being difficult as an ex-actress, Julia Mann's life gets even more complicated when a dead body shows up at her home and the police have every reason to believe she's behind the murder. The last person she wants to see is Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, but that may be the one person who's on her side.

Reluctantly deciding to work with her, Julia and Natasha try to pinpoint how the body found it's way to Julia's California residence. Though they start working well together, old habits are hard to kill and threaten to derail their investigation. Even with the help of industry insiders, it's hard if Julia and Natasha will be able to solve the crime before it's too late.

10. The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose (April 15, 2025)

Sarah Morgan believes she's left the remnants of her last marriage behind now that she's married Bob Miller. She even decided being a lawyer was no longer for her because she can finally be happy...or so she thinks. When she learns Bob had a brief affair, she decides she'd rather be single than deal with a cheating husband. But their divorce is anything but amicable.

As they fight tooth and nail, new evidence is connected to her ex-husband's case and the investigation against him is reopened. Deputy Hudson is convinced the real truth is out there and wants to uncover as much information as possible. And when Bob's one-time mistress vanishes, Sarah will have to watch her back because Bob isn't anything like the ex-husband who cheated before.

11. The Death of Us by Abigail Dean (April 15, 2025)

When Edward and Isabel were younger, they stared into the eyes of a serial killer when he broke into their home. Despite being deeply in love, their relationship was traumatized and never recovered from that night.

Nearing their 60s, they've only crossed paths to watch the serial killer's trial finally unfold. Isabel has been waiting for this day for years as she devoted herself to learning as much as she can about the man who marked her life. She also also wants him to hear her voice in court.

But Edward doesn't want to be there because it serves as a reminder of his first marriage's dissolution. He's remarried, but old feelings come rushing back that influence him to stand by Isabel's side.

12. No Lie Lasts Forever by Mark Stevens (May 1, 2025)

The media is sure the PDQ Killer is back when a reporter is discovered dead and everyone is shocked. However, no one's more confused than Harry Kugel because he used to be the PDQ Killer but hasn't done anything in 15 years.

Harry's been working hard to live better, but feels insulted that someone is trying to copy his moves to make it seem like he's responsible. There's only thing he can do — figure out who the killer is without drawing too much attention to himself.

Turning to TV journalist Flynn Martin, Harry works to solve the mystery so peace can be restored. It's just that being so close to murder is making Harry itch to commit one last crime.

13. Follow Me by Elizabeth Rose Quinn (May 6, 2025)

Following the disappearance of her twin sister Chiara, Adrienne Shaw decides to show up to the influencer retreat her sister was last spotted at. Adrienne never trusted that world and follows her suspicions as she rubs elbows with the women who seem to know how to curate the perfect social media feed.

The closer she gets to uncovering the truth, the more Adrienne realizes the influencers at this retreat are more than complicit in her sister's death and she's ready to fight to the end to get revenge.

14. The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson (May 27, 2025)

Nova Davies' book club isn't going the way she pictured. The few members that have joined can never get through a meeting without disagreeing, but that's not the worst part.

When someone steals much-needed money during one of the book club's meetups, the community center it's held at is threatened for closure. Everyone decides one of their members, Michael, has to be the culprit when he vanishes in the wake of a dead body being found where he lives.

The remaining book club members have different theories about what happened, but they agree to investigate so they uncover the truth of what happened.

15. The Ghostwriter by Julia Clarke (June 3, 2025)

In 1975, Vincent Taylor's siblings' bodies were discovered at home, and people think he was responsible for their deaths. It doesn't help that he becomes a successful horror author later on. Also, he has a daughter he doesn't know about.

Olivia Dumont is ironically a ghostwriter who hasn't seen much success. Deciding to take the job of writing her dad's new book, she realizes he's not interested in focusing on a fictionalized horror story. He wants to detail everything that happened when his siblings were murdered years ago, finally shedding light on the truth.

16. Shaw Connolly Lives to Tellby Gillian French (June 17, 2025)

Fingerprints analyst Shaw Connolly has seen her fair share of grisly crimes in Maine, but she's still haunted by the mystery surrounding her missing younger sister Thea. Shaw constantly obsesses over it which is causing estrangement between her, her husband, and their children. And now that Anders Jansen keeps taunting her about what happened, she can't pull away.

Jansen goes from talking about Thea to detailing everything about Shaw, making the latter realize she could be next on his hit list. She should stop taking his phone calls, but she's convinced she can figure out who and where he is to end his reign of terror. But, what will uncovering the truth cost her?

17. You Can't Hurt Me by Emma Cook (November 5, 2025)

Eva Reid was born special because she physically can't feel pain. Her existence is a phenomenon that people can't get enough of, especially her scientist husband Dr. Nate Reid and journalist Anna Tate. Yet, Eva's death rattles her community and questions about what happened begin flying.

This plunges Anna in a sea of obsession as she works tirelessly to figure out everything she can about Eva's life. She realizes Eva was not only on her way to have a flourishing career as a psychotherapist, but her marriage was far from perfect considering Eva was a former patient of Dr. Reid.

When Dr. Reid decides to dedicate a book to Eva, Anna offers her services to help him complete it so she can learn the truth. Yet, she may be placing herself in harm's way.

'Hunger Games' fans will love the first 'Sunrise on the Reaping' excerpt from chapter 1.

The Sunrise on the Reaping excerpt opens the morning of reaping day — which is also Haymitch's 16th birthday. (Which could explain his behavior during the day Prim's reaped and Katniss volunteers. What a horrible birthday!). Haymitch hopes to spend the free parts of his day lounging around with his girlfriend Lenore Dove, if his mother and the Gamemakers don't get in his way.

The excerpt continues with a really beautiful depiction of District 12's Seam, which is modern day Appalachia. It's a tight-knit (albeit struggling) community covered in a "protective" mist as the sun rises. Haymitch knows that this reaping will take twice as many children and fights to stay calm.

"No way to control the outcome of the reaping or what follows it," he thinks. "So don’t feed the nightmares. Don’t let yourself panic. Don’t give the Capitol that. They’ve taken enough already."

And 'Sunrise on the Reaping' proves Haymitch and Katniss' similarities.

We also learn more about Haymitch's family. All we know from the original trilogy is that President Snow killed them after he won, but this prequel actually introduces us to them. Haymitch's mother was widowed after a coal mine killed his father. He also has a 10-year-old brother named Sid who I can already tell is very energetic and very loud.

This really proves that Haymitch and Katniss are two sides of the same coin, and that they're able to understand each other more than any of the other characters. Not only are they both from the Seam, but they also lost their fathers by the age of 16.

And the most important detail to me is the fact they both have younger siblings they'd do anything for — they were simply destined to be a father-daughter duo. Sacrificial love is the beating heart of the Hunger Games series, and I can't wait to see all the complexity and nuance Sunrise on the Reaping brings to the franchise.

1. They're always being dismissive.

Have you ever been really excited or upset about something only to be met with a dismissive tone from someone you confided in? This person is displaying toxicity which "gradually undermines trust in relationships," according to English. Would you want to keep sharing things with a person if they're always downplaying your emotions? Probably not.

2. Controlling others seems like a sport to them.

English says another way to determine someone is toxic is pay attention to their controlling behavior. It can be something as simple as telling you what to wear or something greater such as forcibly limiting your contact with anyone they think isn't good for you.

3. They consistently makes excuses for their behavior.

Have you ever let a close friend know certain behavior bothers you only for them to make an excuse for why they keep doing them? Bennett says this counts as "avoiding responsibility for actions." Furthermore, "constantly" doing so or looking to "push the blame onto someone else veers into toxic territory," she adds.

Another way to look at this is if someone is always falling into a pattern of "victimizing themselves," according to Bennett.

4. They tend to be manipulative.

Manipulation is tricky because it's not always obvious until it's too late. It's kind of like not realizing you were bit by a mosquito until your skin becomes itchy and red. Bennett says this is toxic because there's a knowing that someone can "appeal to a certain person's characteristics or personality traits." This looks like saying or doing something "with the intention of getting a certain reaction," according to her.

Bennett says, "An example may be one partner in sobriety who consistently uses their poor mental health as a reason to not be proactive about finding a job. They do this because they know that the other partner is worried about their loved one relapsing so they use that fear against her."

5. They never miss an opportunity to gaslight people.

Calling this a "well-known example," English says gaslighting often occurs when someone denies the reality of another person." What would cause someone to do this? Well, a toxic behavior often doesn't want to take accountability for their actions so they'd rather "cause people to doubt their own perceptions," according to English.

6. They're always looking for reasons to criticize someone.

The catty behavior on The Real Housewives of New York may be entertaining for TV, but that kind of behavior gets old quickly in everyday life. No one wants to hear why "so and so thinks they're all that" even if it's disguised as humor. English says, "Regardless of their motivation," behaviors like this "can lead to stressful and emotionally distressing situations."

Alena Darmel

Is it time to cut that toxic person out of my life?

We live in a society that started prioritizing ending relationships with people as soon as we spot red flags, but English and Bennett don't think this should be our immediate reaction. English says, "The decision to disengage with a toxic person in the relationship will depend on how harsh and serious the relationship is" because "it is often personal."

According to her, if you notice a consistent pattern where the behavior is "damaging your emotional health," it's okay to walk away from that person. Still, she believes "completely cutting [someone] off is often a last option when other approaches to changing the behavior have not worked." Bennett says something similar and notes how to approach different scenarios.

"If it someone you need to communicate with because of a job or family, there are things you can do to protect yourself," she says. She suggests reminding "yourself who you are dealing with" if the person is adept at gaslighting others because "it may be easy to become convinced that you are wrong or something did not happen the way you recall." A phrase she encourages you to tell yourself is, "I know that my experiences are my experiences no matter what."

If you're dealing with an aggressively toxic person, you'll have to "set and reinforce boundaries," Bennett says while English adds that "engaging in therapy to faciliate healthier relationships" may be a next step.

Here's how Bennett suggests navigating communication with someone like this:

• Set a boundary to end the conversation when you notice toxic behavior such as invalidation of your feelings.
• Receive support from another person so they can remind you of things you're trying to accomplish

If you're dealing with a friend or spouse, Bennett wants you to remember "you cannot change them" but you're in control of how you respond. English says, "It is important to analyze the whole situation and know when the cost of the relationship is greater than the benefits."