This week’s new book releases include a highly anticipated novel from bestselling author Emily Henry. Henry has become the queen of summer romance books, so we know this one is likely to be an instant best-seller. If historical mystery is your preferred genre, check out The Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli is a moving coming-of-age story about the power of art in wartime, based on true events. Need something thrilling to read? Then Blood on the Vine by J.T. Falco might be for you. Think True Detective meets the rolling hills of Napa in this wine-soaked thriller perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Allison Brennan. The complete list of new book releases for April 22, 2025 is below.
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Anywhere You Go
by Bridget Morrissey
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Genre: Romantic Comedy
Publisher: Berkley
A small-town waitress and a big-city Broadway press agent swap homes to escape the messiness of their personal lives, only to find new purpose—and new love.
Tatum Ward and Eleanor Chapman lead totally opposite lives. Tatum’s never left her Midwestern hometown. She resides in a quaint guest cottage on her parents’ property while working part-time as a waitress, where she spends most shifts ignoring her feelings for a beautiful regular named June. Eleanor dedicates every waking hour to her high-profile press career, sacrificing personal relationships for professional success, save for the occasional hookup to fight off her loneliness. When both women’s lives unexpectedly blow up at the exact same time, they each need an escape, and fast.
In Tatum’s hometown, Eleanor expects a quiet hideaway where she can recharge. Instead she gets wrapped up in the family drama that Tatum left town to avoid, pulled in by Tatum’s charismatic older sibling, Carson, who charms Eleanor at every turn. Tatum ends up in Eleanor’s New York high-rise apartment with June. One week together in the big city might make it impossible for Tatum to avoid not just her true feelings for June, but her real dreams for her life.
Amid a friendship with a reclusive Hollywood actress and a complicated family reunion, Tatum and Eleanor each discover much more than they bargained for away from home. Their house swap won’t last forever, but it might be just long enough for both women to surrender their defenses and finally fight for the life—and love—they deserve.
Blood on the Vine
by J. T. Falco
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Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
True Detective meets the rolling hills of Napa in this wine-soaked thriller perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Allison Brennan.
Lana Burrell grew up on an idyllic Napa Valley vineyard with her best friend Jess–until Jess mysteriously disappeared and Lana’s father was falsely accused of her murder. Over twenty years later, he’s still serving a life sentence, but Lana knows he’s innocent, just like she knows Jess’s real killer is still out there.
Now, as a seasoned FBI agent in the San Francisco field office, Lana figures she can handle just about anything–until a killer strikes the Valley again and those old wounds come bursting open. Two women are slain in ritualistic fashion near the vineyard she once called home, and Lana has no choice but to revisit the site of the nightmarish past she tried to leave behind, a past that seems to be repeating itself as the blood and wine continue to spill all over Napa Valley.
With rumors of a dangerous cult embedded at the center of wine country, the most powerful family in the Valley breathing down her neck, and a mysterious stranger stalking her every move, Lana’s quest to solve the murders takes an even darker turn when she soon realizes the awful truth: she might be the next to die.
A Botanist’s Guide to Society and Secrets (A Saffron Everleigh Mystery)
by Kate Khavari
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Genre: Historical Mystery
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Brilliant botanist Saffron Everleigh is ready for her next thrilling adventure in the newest installment of Kate Khavari’s mesmerizing historical mystery series.
“A cleverly plotted puzzle” (Ashley Weaver) in the vein of Opium and Absinthe, this is perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen and Sujata Massey.
London, 1923. Returning from Paris, botanical researcher Saffron Everleigh finds that her former love interest Alexander Ashton’s brother, Adrian, is being investigated for murder. A Russian scientist working for the English government has been poisoned, and expired in Adrian’s train compartment. Alexander asks Saffron to put in a good word for Adrian with Inspector Green. Despite her unresolved feelings for Alexander, Saffron begins to unravel mysteries surrounding the dead scientist.
As if a murder case weren’t enough, her best friend Elizabeth’s war-hero brother, Nick, arrives in town and takes an immediate interest in Saffron. Saffron learns Alexander has been keeping secrets from her, including a connection to Nick, who Saffron and Elizabeth begin to suspect is more than he seems.
When another scientist is found dead, Saffron agrees to go undercover at the government laboratory. Risking her career and her safety, she learns there are many more interested parties and dangerous secrets to uncover than she’d realized. But some secrets, Saffron will find, are better left undiscovered.
Great Big Beautiful Life
by Emily Henry
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Genre: Romantic Comedy
Publisher: Berkley
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.
If You Stayed
by Brittainy Cherry
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Genre: Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
There once was a man who loved me, until he forgot every memory we’ve ever shared…
Gabriel Sinclair would forever be my first. My first best friend, my first kiss, my first love…and my first heartbreak. The accident that nearly took his life ripped the memory of me from his grasp―and for the last decades, I’ve let the guilt of that one terrible night keep us apart.
It took me years to make peace with the fact that he would no longer be in my life, so when he shows up as the architect for my new home, my world’s tossed upside down. Now, I’m trapped in a loveless marriage, raising a child, while Gabriel stirs up feelings I thought long buried. It feels like my soul is waking up after years of being in a deep slumber―and my controlling husband will do whatever it takes to keep us apart.
I know I should push Gabriel away to protect him from the shadows surrounding me. Yet, I can’t deny the hope that blooms whenever he’s near―the chance that he might remember me, that we could reclaim the chapters of our story that we’ve lost.
Nothing good could come from us, but I can’t help but wonder what would happen if this time…he stayed.
There once was a man who loved me… And now he’s my only hope for tomorrow.
In the Beautiful Dark
by Melissa Payne
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Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
A woman investigates a friend’s long-ago murder in a haunting and hopeful novel about the weight of secrets and regrets by the bestselling author of The Wild Road Home and A Light in the Forest.
At Sunny Pines Retirement Community, where the “Sixty-Two and Better!” share their golden years, secrets abound. Some scandalous, some haunting, and some dangerous. For Birdie Allen, a retired business owner and grandmother, her secret is the only thing she’s got left. Getting old isn’t the hardest part about life. It’s the memories from more than fifty years ago of the death of her unrequited love. And Birdie’s abandoned quest to root out the killer.
With retirement comes a lot of time to revisit old ghosts, so when Birdie ties together a string of recent murders, and a woman disappears, she’s drawn into the same chase she gave up decades earlier. But this time she has the help of an eccentric community of eager new friends. And they’re not alone. Restless souls are watching, including Birdie’s lost love, and they sense the danger that lies ahead. They’re not leaving Birdie’s side until she finishes what she set out to do. But will Birdie’s pursuit of a killer finally free her of regrets and allow her to embrace the beauty of the life she’s created?
The Keeper of Lost Art
by Laura Morelli
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Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
During World War II, a girl makes an unbreakable connection with a boy sheltering in her family’s Tuscan villa, where the treasures of the Uffizi Galleries are hidden. A moving coming-of-age story about the power of art in wartime, based on true events.
As Allied bombs rain down on Torino in the autumn of 1942, Stella Costa’s mother sends her to safety with distant relatives in a Tuscan villa. There, Stella finds her family tasked with a great responsibility: hiding nearly 300 priceless masterpieces from Florence, including Botticelli’s famous Primavera.
With the arrival of German troops imminent, Stella finds herself a stranger in her family’s villa and she struggles to understand why her aunt doesn’t like her. She knows it has something to do with her parents—and the fact that her father, who is currently fighting at the front, has been largely absent from her life.
When a wave of refugees seeks shelter in the villa, Stella befriends Sandro, an orphaned boy with remarkable artistic talent. Amid the growing threats, Sandro and Stella take refuge in the villa’s “treasure room,” where the paintings are hidden. There, Botticelli’s masterpiece and other works of art become a solace, an inspiration, and the glue that bonds Stella and Sandro as the dangers grow.
A troop of German soldiers requisitions the villa and puts everyone to forced labor. Now, with the villa full of German soldiers, refugees, a secret guest, and hundreds of priceless treasures, no one knows who will emerge unscathed, and whether the paintings will be taken as spoils or become unintended casualties.
Inspired by the incredible true story of a single Tuscan villa used as a hiding place for the treasures of Florentine art during World War II, The Keeper of Lost Art takes readers on a breathtaking journey into one of the darkest chapters of Italy’s history, highlighting the incredible courage of everyday people to protect some of the most important works of art in western civilization.
Love to Hate You
by Marina Adair
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Genre: Romantic Comedy
Publisher: Zando – 8th Note Press
A modern twist on You’ve Got Mail starring an indie bookstore owner looking for true love and a cynical CEO who may ruin everything, from New York Times bestselling author Marina Adair.
Summer Russo believes in the power of destiny and true love . . . which might be why she sank her entire life savings into reviving a nearly-bankrupt independent bookstore that specializes in romance novels and beach reads. But just as she starts to get the hang of the new business, a big-box bookstore moves in next door, run by the grumpy and arrogant Kingston, who seems determined to ruin her day (and her livelihood).
Wes Kingston is a cut-throat CEO who doesn’t believe in love―or failure. He runs his business the way he runs his life: alone. And he isn’t going to let a fiery femme fatale take him down. Especially when she is dead set on stopping the opening of his new bookstore.
At least Summer has her family’s annual vacation in Mystic, CT to look forward to as a break from the standoff. But when she arrives at the beachside cabin, she realizes that her usual summer respite may not be so carefree after all. Her sister has brought along not only her boyfriend but a second guest―his brother, who just happens to be the very same surly-but-infuriatingly- sexy bookstore mogul Summer thought she was getting away from.
The bookstore war is still on, and neither Summer nor Kingston will go down without a fight. But when one thing leads to another and fighting turns to foreplay, both find themselves stuck in a battle for the bookstore―and for their hearts.
The Pretender
by Jo Harkin
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Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Knopf
In 1480 John Collan’s greatest anxiety is how to circumvent the village’s devil goat on his way to collect water. But the arrival of a well-dressed stranger from London upends his life forever: John is not John Collan, not the son of Will Collan but Lambert Simnel, the son of the long-deceased Duke of Clarence, and has been hidden in the countryside after a brotherly rift over the crown—and because Richard III has a habit of disappearing his nephews.
Removed from his humble origins and sent to Oxford to be educated in a manner befitting the throne’s rightful heir, Lambert is put into play by his masters. He learns the rules of etiquette in Burgundy and the machinations of the court in Ireland, where he encounters the intractable Joan, the delightfully strong-willed and manipulative daughter of his Irish patrons, a girl imbued with both extraordinary political savvy and occasional murderous tendencies. Joan has two paths available to her—marry or become a nun. Lambert’s choices are similarly stark: he will either become king or die in battle. Together they form an alliance that will change the fate of the English monarchy.
Inspired by a footnote to history—the true story of the little-known Simnel, who was a figurehead of the 1487 Yorkist rebellion and ended up working as a spy in the court of King Henry VII—The Pretender is historical fiction at its finest, a gripping, exuberant, rollicking portrait of British monarchy and life within the court, with a cast of unforgettable heroes and villains drawn from fifteenth-century England. A masterful new work from a major new author.
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