ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF DANIELLE LESAGE | MANAGER, PUBLICITY & MARKETING | PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE CANADA
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In a voice that is by turns comic and unusually wise, WhatGentlemenDo is an unvarnished look at a young man wrestling with the consequences of his actions, the shakiness of his beliefs, and jeopardizing important relationships. Waylon tries to dismantle his own perception of truth and to build something meaningful in the process.
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June 23, 2026
McClelland & Stewart
Trade Paperback
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Fiction
Coming Of Age; Fiction
Small Town & Rural
Fiction - Family Life
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PRAISE FOR WHAT GENTLEMEN DO:
“Funny, furious, and quietly devastating. What Gentlemen Do gets at something most people miss about struggling cities—that they come back to life not from top-down policies but from the ground up, from a kid in a used bookstore, a song played in an empty downtown, a philosophy class that won’t let you quit. A novel about placemaking that never once uses the word. Against the most depressing backdrop, Todd Babiak has written one of the most hopeful things I’ve read about our relationship to cities and place in years.”—Richard Florida, author of The New Urban Crisis
“Few writers can bring together humour, heart, and hope more thoughtfully and powerfully than Todd Babiak, even in a story set against a very bleak but all too real societal landscape. Brilliantly written, this novel tears you down and then lifts you up. Masterful.”—Terry Fallis, two-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour
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ABOUT WHAT GENTLEMEN DO:
A lost young man’s sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking attempt at navigating adulthood, online culture, and friendship in this coming-of-age story for our times.
Waylon Gans did not mean to start a riot on the university campus.
He was only there because he wanted to be in the audience while one of his heroes, Josh Modley, recorded a live podcast.
The problem, as Waylon sees it, is that he is trash: he lives in Walleye, a town everyone wants to leave; his parents are losing their home due to a bad cryptocurrency investment; his job at the used bookstore is a dead-end; Derby, the love of his life, cannot even look at him; and he’s worried he’s falling back under podcaster Josh Modley’s influence and the comfort of blaming everything on the “feminists, globalists, and communists.”
Half-heartedly pursuing an associate degree, Waylon is enrolled in Philosophy 118: Introduction to Stoicism. He becomes entranced by these teachings.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
TODD BABIAK’s most recent novels are The Spirits Up, Monument (originally published as The Empress of Idaho), Son of France, and Come Barbarians, which was a Globe and Mail Book of the Year and a number one bestseller.
His earlier work includes The Garneau Block, which was a national bestseller, a longlisted title for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the winner of the City of Edmonton Book Prize; The Book of Stanley; and Toby: A Man, which was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal and won the Alberta Book Award for Best Novel.
Todd Babiak is the co-founder of Story Engine and CEO of Brand Gold Coast.
ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.
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Be Well is set in the summer of 2009 in Los Angeles, and follows an awkward young woman who graduates straight into the Great Recession, does increasingly desperate/stupid things to avoid moving back to her hometown, where she'd live in the shadow of her televangelist father - and gets involved with a maybe cult along the way.
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June 23, 2026
Heliotrope Books
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PRAISE FOR BE WELL:
"Reading Be Well feels like living inside the world’s most devastatingly accurate Reductress headline. With razor-sharp humor and an uncanny eye for millennial absurdity, Sarah Flocken captures the particular cocktail of hope, humiliation, and existential dread that defined coming of age in 2009. A hilarious, addictive novel that will make many readers feel thrillingly—and terrifyingly—seen. - Candice Wuehle Author of Monarch, an NPR Best Book of the Year
"Sarah Flocken's debut novel brilliantly captures the chaos of what it's like to be an unprepared college graduate desperate for a slice of solid ground in a ruthlessly shaky world. As someone who also came of age in the late aughts — and who may or may not have gone through a deeply misguided crystal phase of my own circa 2009 — Ann's character arc made me laugh, cry, and shriek in recognition. Calling all elder millennial book clubs: Be Well is a must-discuss for your next meeting!" -
Nicolas DiDmoizio Author of A Murder Most Camp
“Sharp, funny, and fast-paced. Be Well is an unflinching look at the sticky, alluring world of wellness and of a young woman’s search for direction and meaning as she attempts to answer the question: where do I belong? Steeped with humor, heart, and candor. A must read!” - Deborah Hemming Author of Goddess
Be Well paints a nostalgic portrait of coming of age in late-2000s Southern California. Sarah Flocken crafts a relatable heroine you can’t help but root for, even as her life spirals out of control by her own doing. Ideal for readers drawn to stories of messy ambition, complicated daughters, and the seductive pull of communities that promise to make everything better." - Holly James Author of The Big Fix
Be Well is a blazing debut that skewers the ‘wellness’ industry with wry humor and delicious irony. Packed with mid 2000s nostalgia and post-recession desperation, it builds and builds until…well, you’ll have to read to find out." - Charlee Dyroff Author of Loneliness & Company
"Sarah Flocken has written a joyfully nightmarish exploration of the places where belief and desperation meet. Funny, dark, and sharply observed, Be Well is both a satire of pre-GOOP, Recession-era wellness and a nail-biting thriller (in which, of course, the villain was within us all along)." - Jessie Gaynor Author of The Glow
ABOUT BE WELL:
Summer 2009: Brand-new college graduate Ann Ward has sent out nearly three hundred job applications, but nobody will employ her. The last thing she wants to do is leave Los Angeles, return to her desert hometown, and live in the shadow of her fame-hungry televangelist father–and it's starting to look like that's her fate. Thankfully, Ann's luck turns after a humiliating failed job interview, when she meets the magnetic founder of upscale holistic wellness collective Sagebrush. She's quickly drawn deep into the privileged, demanding world of Sagebrush, inventing Anneliese - a dubious new persona - to fit in.
But when her funds run out and her lies blow up, Ann must choose between facing reality or doing whatever she has to do in order to get the future she wants. Both a "funny ha-ha-" and a "funny oh no" read for anyone who survived the Great Recession, Be Well explores just how easy it is to believe in something unquestioningly–and lie to ourselves and others–when everything feels uncertain and the future isn't guaranteed.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sarah Flocken is an author who writes unhinged fiction for the silently enraged.
Be Well is her first novel.
She is also a public relations professional, comedian, improviser, and pun contest host (yes, it's a thing) with performance credits worldwide.
Los Angeles will always hold a piece of her heart and blood pressure, but San Diego is the place she calls home.
National Treasure meets Jack Ryan in THE MIDAS TOUCH
July 19, 1799. Napoleon’s armies advance into Egypt. In the steaming desert sands, his explorers unearth an astounding discovery: The Rosetta Stone. The tablet, cracked and incomplete, will eventually answer mysteries about ancient Egyptian history, culture, and science. But in the years since its partial excavation, world leaders, historians, scientists, and adventurers have speculated that the missing fragments could answer another age-old mystery.
THE MIDAS TOUCH is a globe-trotting adventure that follows CIA cryptologist/puzzle solver/savant Brady Donovan as he investigates the murder of his beloved mentor Dr. Hastings Kaufman, only to find that it leads to a search for the missing pieces of the famed Rosetta Stone and the secret it holds: The Alchemist Gold Theory – how to turn ordinary metals into gold.
Protagonist Brady Donovan partners with British archeologist Teppy Flynn and conspiracy theorist Avery Prophet. Only a heartbeat away is a diabolical Silicon Valley tech giant, D’Arcy Lauren Granier, and her henchmen.
The quest takes them through Napoleonic history and into a contemporary race through the streets of London, America’s backroads, the Caribbean, New Orleans’ French Quarter, Napoleon’s last island prison in the Atlantic, the Louisiana Bayou, and a massive, abandoned salt mine where pirate Jean Lafitte hid his treasures.
History, told in vivid flashbacks, jumps back to 1799 Egypt, and forward through the hundreds of years since, with pirates and presidents on the search for better or worse. Now Brady Donovan fights against the fast- ticking clock, relentless bad guys, and a Category 5 hurricane to where past meets present and greed and betrayal become deadly partners.
THE MIDAS TOUCH is written by international award-winning thriller writer Gary Grossman with Charles Segars and Oren Aviv, the creators of the billion-dollar National Treasure movie franchise.
Praise for THE MIDAS TOUCH:
"A perfect piece of entertainment with characters and a story that never disappoints. Poignant in places, nail-biting in others, the plot is accentuated by a take-no-prisoners attitude, similar to speeding down a slalom course with all its twists and turns. It's quite a ride!" ~ Steve Berry New York Times best-selling author
"The Midas Touch is a thrilling ride through history and modern-day, tantalizing the reader with intrigue, action, and adventure across a labyrinth of archaeological secrets and danger." ~ Raymond Benson, New York Times best-selling James Bond novelist
"Fans of The DaVinci Code will love The Midas Touch. Grossman, Segars, and Aviv have created an iconic character in Brady Donovan, a CIA cryptologist who trades in his pen for tradecraft to protect the world from a devastating economic weapon. Gripping prose, unforgettable settings, and non-stop excitement. A real page turner!" ~ K.J. Howe, international bestselling author of Skyjack writes
THE MIDAS TOUCH Trailer:
Book Details:
Genre: Suspense, Mystery, History Fiction, Globe-Hopping Intrigue Published by: Fayetteville Mafia Press Publication Date: June 2, 2026 Number of Pages: 334 ISBN: 9781949024999 (ISBN10: 1949024997) Book Links:Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | BookBub
Gary Grossman:
THE MIDAS TOUCH is written by international award-winning thriller writer Gary Grossman (OLD EARTH, the EXECUTIVE ACTIONS and RED HOTEL series) with Charles Segars and Oren Aviv, the creators and executive producers of the exciting and popular Nicholas Cage NATIONAL TREASURE movie franchise.
CHARLES SEGARS has served as a senior executive at Viacom, CBS, The Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation. Segars is also known as Creator and Executive Producer of the Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures hit movie franchise, National Treasure and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
Currently, Segars enjoys a dual role as CEO of Ovation TV, the only multi-platform program service dedicated to the Arts and as President of Segars Media.
Segars is a respected global safety and security analyst. He advises a number of national security-related technology startups and is actively involved in governmental affairs.He has served as a White House Associate as an Advance Team leader for the Office of the President and Vice President of the United States of America, leading a number of secretive domestic and international trips.
Oren Aviv:
OREN AVIV ran Disney Studios from 2006-2010, after heading Disney Marketing for eight years. He became Disney’s first Chief Content Officer, and after leaving Disney he became CMO for 20th Century Fox Studios. In addition to executive producing a dozen films, he also co-created and was Executive Producer of Disney’s National Treasure film franchise.
Aviv was named “Marketer of the Year” three separate times by Advertising Age Magazine. He created breakthrough campaigns for the studio’s NARNIA, STEP UP, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the National Treasure franchises, and launched memorable campaigns for many of Pixar’s animated hits, including Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles and Cars. He also launched blockbusters such as The Sixth Sense; Pearl Harbor; Ransom; The Rock; Signs; The Waterboy; Armageddon; Unbreakable; 101 Dalmatians; Con Air; Crimson Tide; Freaky Friday; and Father of the Bride, as well as hundreds of other films under the Disney, Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures banners. As CMO at 20th Century Fox, Aviv created the campaigns for Rise of the Planet of the Apes; X-Men: First Class; Ridley Scott’s Prometheus; The Wolverine starring Hugh Jackman; and Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning Life of Pi.
As head of production at Disney, Aviv was responsible for greenlighting such hits as THE PROPOSAL starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds; Tim Burton’s billion-dollar-grossing Alice in Wonderland; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; National Treasure: Book of Secrets; and the Amy Adams musical-comedy Enchanted.
Tour Participants:
Click through the other tour stops for can’t-miss reviews, insider interviews, exclusive guest posts, and more chances to win!
Whisper Creek definitely wasn't whispering anything gentle or good.
In place of anything good or gentle in this small, close-knit town, it was offering pouring rain, floods, men trying to steal land, kidnapping, and murder.
The book opens with someone sneaking into the barn of one of the residents and putting foam in the gutters and cutting holes in the wood so the barn would be ruined.
This was done because some thugs were trying to get everyone to give up, go bankrupt, and sell their land to them.
More violence and devastation continue as WHISPER CREEK has the signature tension we can expect from Allison Brennan.
Her descriptions of the mud-soaked, waterlogged land and roads, pull you in and into the characters' lives.
Excellent as always, and you won’t be able to put the book down. 5/5
Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS COURTESY OF HEATHER WATERS OF GALLERY BOOKS | SIMON & SCHUSTER AND THE AUTHOR’S GOODREADS PAGE.
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Jane Austen’s Persuasion meets Gilmore Girlsin this sparkling debut novel about a mother and daughter finding love and second chances during a life-changing Nantucket summer.
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June 23
Gallery Books
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PRAISE FOR WORSE THAN STRANGERS:
"A champagne cocktail of old loves, bucket lists, and newromances—
with a Jane Austen twist.”—Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author
“I devoured this gorgeous debut, but its poignant lessons on love – especially between mother and daughter – will stay with me much, much longer.” —Jessie Rosen, nationally bestselling author of All the Signs
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ABOUT WORSE THAN STRANGERS:
WorseThanStrangers is the story of Rose and Lily Gardner, who are best friends first, mother-daughter second. Which is a good thing, because right now, Lily could really use a friend.
Rose’s own world is rocked by the handsome renter staying in their guest cottage, Thomas Wentworth: the one person she thought she would never see again and the man who has always (unfortunately) held her heart.
Set against a lush backdrop of hydrangeas and shingled houses, Lily and Rose’s summer journey of healing and hope begs the question: Can you repeat the past, and is it ever too late to try again?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kyleigh Leddy’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, and Parents, among others. In 2023, she was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Media list. She holds a BA from Boston College, an MSW from Columbia University, and an MFA in fiction from Bennington Writing Seminars. She is a licensed therapist and teaches in Boston College’s M.A. in Writing and the Human Condition program. Worse Than Strangers is her debut novel.
ALL INFORMATION IN THIS POST IS TAKEN FROM THE PUBLISHER'S WEB PAGE.
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#1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone Lisa Jewell brings her “thrilling, chilling” (Chris Whitaker) suspense to this shocking new thriller about a lost dog, a missing woman, and a house of long buried secrets.
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June 23, 2026
Atria Books
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PRAISE FOR IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER:
"Jewell is one of the best writers of psychological thrillers, and this one spectacularly showcases her gifts for character design and plotting. We get the sense that the author was having an especially good time crafting this one, too, and very much enjoying the agonizing suspense she’s putting us through... Magnificent."—Booklist
"With a shrewd command of the narrative, Jewell turns a chance encounter into a disturbing treatise on the past’s ability to assert itself in ways both unwelcome and unlikely . . . . [a] pitch-black spine-tingler."—Publishers Weekly
“Deliciously dark, devilishly addictive and beautifully written. This gripping, twisted tale will keep you guessing until the end. Nobody writes like Lisa Jewell."—Alice Feeney, New York Times bestselling author of My Husband’s Wife
“Twisty, twisted and oh so dark. Lisa Jewell once again proves herself a master of suspense.”—Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of With a Vengeance
“Another top-notch thriller, featuring the most endearing protagonist that I can easily identify with—a nosy middle-aged woman who stumbles across the story of a missing girl and decides to investigate it herself. Alternately cozy and harrowing, it investigates the most toxic family I have ever read. Superbly written with wit and class, Lisa Jewell remains at the top of her game with this entertaining and twisty thriller.”—Liz Nugent, author of Strange Sally Diamond
“Absolutely stunning storytelling, with layer after layer deftly and tantalizingly revealed, and a denouement that is so perfect, so devilishly clever, and yet I didn’t see it coming. A true masterpiece.”—Andrea Mara, author of All Her Fault
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ABOUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER:
Jane Trevally is walking her dogs on her country estate when a small white terrier appears, alone and with no sign of the teenaged girl he’d been staying with nearby. When the teenager is reported missing, Jane offers to return the dog to his registered owner, hours away in London. Arriving at a run-down house called Thornwood in the deepest backwaters of Hampstead, she is immediately on alert—because Jane has a dark history with this house.
The man who answers the door is not the man that Jane remembers from her past. He is cagey, and claims to know nothing about the missing teenage girl. Then, through the window of the house, Jane catches a glimpse of a haunted-looking woman.
Conjuring her memories from twenty-five years ago, Jane knows this unsettling house holds the key—to the missing teenager, to her own traumatic story, and to the dark secrets of the past.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Photo Credit: Clara Molden
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-four novels, including Don’t Let Him In, None of This Is True, The Family Upstairs, and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You.
Her novels have sold more than fifteen million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into over thirty languages.
