"Love Me Tomorrow"

New from Sarah Barley Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers: Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Tokyo Ever After comes “an endearing, lightly magical romantic comedy” (Kirkus Reviews) about a girl who starts receiving letters from the love of her life—writing to her from years in the future

What if your true love could write to you from the future?

Seventeen-year-old Emma Nakamura-Thatcher doesn’t believe in love, not after her parents’ bitter divorce. So when she attends the festival of Tanabata, her wish is simple: proof that love is real and can last.

Emma thinks little of her wish…until she finds a note from someone claiming to be her greatest love writing to her from the future. It has to be a prank, right? But as the notes pour in, each revealing secrets only she knows, Emma is forced to accept the impossible: This is really happening. Someone is actually reaching out to her from across time.

But who? Ezra, the musical prodigy who makes her pulse race? Theo, the literal boy next door who’s known her since childhood? Or Colin, the overly confident, overly handsome, overly rich kid she meets while cleaning his mega-mansion?

As Emma races to uncover the identity of the letter writer, she’ll discover that love is more than real—it’s the most powerful force in the universe. And it’s been waiting for her all along.

Visit Emiko Jean's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"After Fission"

New from Cambridge University Press: After Fission: Recognition and Contestation in the Atomic Age by Sidra Hamidi.

About the book, from the publisher:

Nuclear status is typically treated as a stable feature of a state's capacity to possess, use, or build nuclear weapons. Challenging this view, After Fission reveals how states contest their nuclear status in the atomic age. By examining the legal structure of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, technical ambiguities surrounding nuclear testing, and debates over rights and responsibilities in the global nuclear regime, Sidra Hamidi argues that a state's nuclear status is not simply a function of technical capability. Instead, states actively contest the way they want their nuclear status to be presented to the world, and powerful states like the US, either recognize or reject these formulations. By analysing key diplomatic junctures in Indian, Israeli, Iranian, and North Korean nuclear history, this book presents a theory of when and how states contest their nuclear status which has key policy implications for negotiating with ostensible “rogues” such as Iran and North Korea.

Visit Sidra Hamidi's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Forest on the Edge of Time"

New from Tor Books: The Forest on the Edge of Time by Jasmin Kirkbride.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Future of Another Timeline meets The Bone Clocks in this dazzling piece of time-travel climate fiction.

Recruited by the mysterious Project Kairos to change history and save the future from ecological disaster, Echo and Hazel are transported through time to opposite worlds. Echo works as a healer’s assistant in Ancient Athens, embroiled in dangerous politics and wild philosophy. Hazel is the last human alive, in a laboratory on a polluted island with nothing but tiny robots and an untrustworthy AI for company.

Both women suffer from amnesia, but when they fall asleep, their consciousnesses transcend time and they meet in their dreams. Together, they start to uncover their past – but soon discover the past threatens humanity’s survival.

If Echo and Hazel have a chance of changing the future, they must remember to forget…

THE FOREST ON THE EDGE OF TIME is a novel about family and duty and the worlds we try to save along the way.

Visit Jasmin Kirkbride's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Invisible Illness"

New from the University of California Press: Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID by Emily Mendenhall.

About the book, from the publisher:

A moving cultural history of disability―and a powerful call to action to change how our medical system and society supports those with complex chronic conditions

From lupus to Lyme, invisible illness is often dismissed by everyone but the sufferers. Why does the medical establishment continually insist that, when symptoms are hard to explain, they are probably just in your head?

Inspired by her work with long COVID patients, medical anthropologist Emily Mendenhall traces the story of complex chronic conditions to show why both research and practice fail so many. Mendenhall points out disconnects between the reality of chronic disease―which typically involves multiple intersecting problems resulting in unique, individualized illness―and the assumptions of medical providers, who behave as though chronic diseases have uniform effects for everyone. And while invisible illnesses have historically been associated with white middle-class women, being believed that you are sick is even more difficult for patients whose social identities and lived experiences may not align with dominant medical thought. Weaving together cultural history with intimate interviews, Invisible Illness upholds the experiences of those living with complex illness to expose the failures of the American healthcare system―and how we can do better.

Visit Emily Mendenhall's website.

The Page 99 Test: Unmasked.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Cruelty Free"

New from William Morrow: Cruelty Free: A Novel by Caroline Glenn.

About the book, from the publisher:

A disgraced movie star returns to Hollywood 10 years after the kidnapping of her young daughter intent on seeking revenge, for fans of Monika Kim and Rachel Yoder.

NOTHING FEELS BETTER THAN REVENGE.

Ten years ago, Lila Devlin was an A-list actress with a movie star husband and a beautiful baby girl, Josie. When Josie was kidnapped out of her home and never seen again, Lila’s previously pristine public image twisted into that of an Unfit Mother. Driven mad by the hungry press, incompetent cops, and relentless true crime–obsessed “fans,” she disappeared into anonymity.

Now, Lila Devlin returns to LA with a grand vision for a radical new skincare brand to reinvent herself and honor Josie’s legacy. She's prepared to move into the next chapter of her life with forgiveness in her heart, when an encounter with a parasitic blogger ends with him dead. Lila suddenly discovers forgiveness isn’t nearly as satisfying as a body hitting the floor.

With the help of her devoted publicist Sylvie, Lila begins a relentless, blood-soaked hunt through LA. Giving her skincare the edge it needs, they introduce a secret ingredient—revenge-sourced—from the bodies piling up. But as the company’s success skyrockets and Lila begins unraveling the truth behind her daughter’s kidnapping, her murderous side hustle threatens the life she’s painstakingly rebuilt.

Both a striking portrayal of grief and womanhood, and a twisting, cynical satire on celebrity and toxic beauty standards, Cruelty Free is an ambitious debut from a talented star on the rise.

Visit Caroline Glenn's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Mind of the Slave"

New from the University of Michigan Press: The Mind of the Slave: The Limits of Ownership in Roman Law and Society by Nicole J. Giannella.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Mind of the Slave untangles the double nature of slaves as property and as human beings under the law in the Roman world. As human beings, slaves had free will and legally recognized autonomy while acting for their owner. Although their autonomy was fundamental to the Roman economy, it had the potential to lead to insecurity in the day-to-day experiences of the owner and enslaved person. Will an enslaved agent decide to act in the best interest of their owner? To sell their secrets? To run away? These moments of insecurity are the subject of this book; they reveal an owner’s struggle to know the mind of the slave and to reconcile ownership over a reasoning, emotional, and purposive human being. Nicole J. Giannella argues that this reliance on the mind of the slave reveals fault lines in the ownership of the enslaved. This is where we can glimpse beyond the trappings of law and see the need for negotiation, incentives, and ultimately, the trust that the owner puts in their slave.

In order to place Roman jurists in conversation with both technical and literary sources, Giannella grounds this study in philology and argues that conceptions of the mind of the slave were at the heart of legal and cultural debates about the nature of slavery and ownership. It also contributes to a wider debate about selfhood and autonomy, since philosophers often used the figure of the slave as a representation of humanity as its limits.

--Marshal Zeringue

"One & Only"

New from G.P. Putnam’s Sons: One & Only by Maurene Goo.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Five Years meets a millennial The Joy Luck Club in the adult debut from the author of YA Reese Pick Throwback— a funny and fresh love story of a woman thrown a curveball by fate, and the family secret that will make her question everything.

She knows what her happily ever after looks like. And it’s not him.

Cassia Park believes in soul mates. Fated love stories. It’s her family business, after all—for centuries, from Korea to Los Angeles, Park women have peered into clients’ past lives to find their one true love, their fated. This magical secret is why One & Only Matchmaking has a 100% guarantee…for everyone but Cassia.

For ten years, Cass has been searching for her fated, a man named Daniel Nam. But he’s still nowhere to be found.

And so, on the eve of her 40th birthday, Cass decides to do something for herself. She impulsively has a fling with Ellis. He’s twenty-eight, indecently handsome, and not destined to be the love of her life. But she’s surprised by their connection and their fling feels like something more—up to the moment he introduces her to his boss…Daniel Nam.

As she battles between fate and chance, head and heart, a family secret is revealed that will make her question everything she’s ever known. Cassia will have to decide if she’ll follow her fate…or make her own.

Visit Maurene Goo's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Rewriting the Rules"

New from the University of California Press: Rewriting the Rules: Gender-Responsive Lawmaking for the Twenty-First Century by Ramona Vijeyarasa.

About the book, from the publisher:

Rewriting the Rules considers what it would look like to write women's lives into law. Examining both where the law stands today and the ground left to walk if it is to be truly equitable, Ramona Vijeyarasa takes readers on a global journey of gender-responsive lawmaking across seven legal domains: gender-based violence, parental leave, corporate board representation, small-scale mining, budgeting, modern slavery, and artificial intelligence. A legislative tour of good and bad practice from every continent, this book reconceptualizes lawmaking and demonstrates how rewriting the rules can be a lever for equality.

Visit Ramona Vijeyarasa's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The End of Romance"

New from Viking: The End of Romance: A Novel by Lily Meyer.

About the novel, from the publisher:

A big-hearted, wise, unceasingly buoyant novel about a woman who, after escaping a bruising marriage, theorizes that happiness is possible solely with the eradication of all romance--only to find a love that could change her life forever

Sylvie Broder was taught early to embrace joy. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors whose greatest priority was enjoying the life they'd snatched back from Hitler, Sylvie believes in the tenacious pursuit of pleasure—yet, somehow, finds herself trapped in a suffocating, emotionally abusive marriage. With enormous fortitude, Sylvie frees herself and turns to graduate school, where she develops a new philosophy: Straight women will find true liberation and happiness only once romance is eradicated.

Now, Sylvie prides herself in separating sex from tenderness—having fun with men, but never committing to one. Then she meets Robbie and Abie, and finds her philosophy sorely tested. A warm and gentle man, Robbie treats Sylvie with patience and enormous kindness, offering her comfort she hasn't had since childhood. Abie is passionate and dynamic, a man who challenges Sylvie, and with whom she finds herself constantly disarmed. With both men, she feels a deep desire that looks, worryingly, a lot like love.

Cleverly constructed, delightfully funny, and beautifully written, The End of Romance is an anti-romance romance novel that charts its fallible heroine's tumultuous journey to love and happiness with erudition and deep feeling—a story for anyone who, despite their very best efforts, has fallen in love, and wondered why.

Visit Lily Meyer's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Out of Hitler's Shadow"

New from Oxford University Press: Out of Hitler's Shadow: Debt, Guilt, and the German Economic Miracle by Tobias Straumann.

About the book, from the publisher:

Why were the United States and its Western Allies so lenient after the most atrocious war of all times? Out of Hitler's Shadow answers this question, and considers why the Allies concluded that imposing unrealistic financial conditions on a defeated country would do more harm than good.

The destruction left by Nazi Germany was horrendous. The occupied countries had been ravaged and plundered, millions of people murdered, cities laid in ashes. There was every reason to make the defeated Germans pay for 'Hitler's debt' as The New York Times called the gigantic damage inflicted. But whereas the Soviet Union punished East Germany, the Western Allies, at the London Debt Conference (1952) decided to forgo all war-related debts. The Federal Republic of Germany - the Western successor state of Nazi Germany - had to settle no more than half of all outstanding debts stemming from pre-war obligations and post-war assistance. Only Israel and private Jewish organisations received reparations from the Federal Republic, but it was a modest amount.

Why were the United States and its Western Allies so lenient after the most atrocious war of all times? Out of Hitler's Shadow answers this question, and considers why the Allies concluded that imposing unrealistic financial conditions on a defeated country would do more harm than good.

These actions challenged widely held notions of justice. People who had suffered most from the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany were not compensated. The deal was unfair in many ways, but diplomats and politicians had to make hard choices. Five statesmen were particularly bold: U.S. Secretary of State Acheson, German Chancellor Adenauer, French Foreign Minister Schuman as well as Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion and Foreign Minister Sharett. Tobias Straumann explains why the personalities involved deserve to be remembered for their strategic clarity in the face of enormous resistance.

--Marshal Zeringue