New Releases by Joshilyn Jackson

From the New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever comes a chilling story of sisters and revenge. Revenge...It''s all relative. Born three minutes apart, Penny and Nix Albright grew up doing everything together, close as only twins can be. But when Nix dies in a tragic accident soon after college, she leaves behind a cryptic voicemail that has Penny guilt-ridden and desperate for justice. Five Years Later Penny has found new purpose as a rookie cop. She’s working to fulfill Nix’s dream of making the world a safer place, but following that dream becomes a nightmare when she’s called to her first murder scene. When she sees the victim, she knows him instantly. It’s Danny Bowery—one of three men she’s long blamed for Nix’s death—splayed in a pool of blood outside a posh Atlanta shopping center, almost as if she’d wished it so. Stunned, Penny steps away to catch her breath and discovers a blonde in blood-drenched clothes gripping a box cutter. Before Penny can arrest her, the woman reveals that Bowery’s murder is part of a larger story that is far from over. A story about sisters. And with that, the killer disappears. Now, Penny will stop at nothing to pursue this dangerous woman and learn why she’s avenging Nix’s death. The deeper she dives into the mystery, the less clear it becomes who is hunting whom in this captivating page-turner of hidden motives and deadly consequences.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever comes the hair-raising story of a mother who moves herself and her daughter across the country to escape a dangerous stalker— but she can’t keep herself and her daughter safe from a monster she can’t identify HIS GAME. HIS RULES. HER LIFE. It started with the letters… For actress Meribel Mills, disturbing fan mail is part of the price of fame. So when she starts getting creepy letters written in fruit-scented marker she’s mostly unfazed. But there’s something different about Marker Man… He’s been in her home… Meribel’s sheets smell of unfamiliar cologne, and objects are changing places inside her house. While the police insist that stalkers hardly ever escalate to violence, Meribel has played the dead girl one too many times on TV to risk becoming her in real life. She and her daughter move from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start—but no distance is great enough. He’s watching her… Years of being in front of a camera have given Meribel a superpower—she can feel eyes on her, and someone definitely has her in their sights. Could Marker Man have followed her all the way across the country? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect and Meribel finds herself in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides. If he can''t have her, no one can. Look for these other pulse-pounding thrillers by New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson: Mother May I Never Have I Ever

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “A finely paced, shrewdly observed, multi-tiered story . . . A thinking (and feeling) reader’s thriller.” –Wall Street Journal "Chilling, thought-provoking, and hauntingly written, Mother May I kept me on the edge of my seat with its breathless race against time." — Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl from Widow Hills Recommended by Buzzfeed • Parade • Country Living • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • Augusta Chronicle • The Nerd Daily • She Reads • BookBub • and more! The New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Never Have I Ever returns with an even more addictive novel of domestic suspense in which a mother must decide how far she is willing to go to protect her child and the life she loves—an unforgettable tale of power, privilege, lies, revenge, and the choices we make, ones that transform our lives in unforeseen ways. Revenge doesn’t wait for permission. Growing up poor in rural Georgia, Bree Cabbat was warned that the world was a dark and scary place. Bree rejected that fearful outlook, and life has proved her right. Having married into a family with wealth, power, and connections, Bree now has all a woman could ever dream of. Until the day she awakens and sees someone peering into her bedroom window—an old gray-haired woman dressed all in black who vanishes as quickly as she appears. It must be a play of the early morning light or the remnant of a waking dream, Bree tells herself, shaking off the bad feeling that overcomes her. Later that day though, she spies the old woman again, in the parking lot of her daughters’ private school . . . just minutes before Bree’s infant son, asleep in his car seat only a few feet away, vanishes. It happened so quickly—Bree looked away only for a second. There is a note left in his place, warning her that she is being watched; if she wants her baby back, she must not call the police or deviate in any way from the instructions that will follow. The mysterious woman makes contact, and Bree learns she, too, is a mother. Why would another mother do this? What does she want? And why has she targeted Bree? Of course Bree will pay anything, do anything. It’s her child. To get her baby back, Bree must complete one small—but critical—task. It seems harmless enough, but her action comes with a devastating price. Bree will do whatever it takes to protect her family—but what if the cost tears their world apart?

“Wonderful—suspense and surprises, real characters, and a scary, ominous backbeat. This feels like the book Jackson was born to write.” —Lee Child, New York Times bestselling author Named a Best Book by USA Today • People • The Wall Street Journal • Time • Entertainment Weekly • Bustle • and many more! From New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson, a twisting novel of domestic suspense in which a group of women play a harmless drinking game that escalates into a war of dark pasts In this game, even winning can be deadly... Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it—teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night. Sultry and magnetic, Roux beguiles the group with her feral charm. She keeps the wine flowing and lures them into a game of spilling secrets. Everyone thinks it’s naughty, harmless fun. Only Amy knows better. Something wicked has come her way—a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did. When they’re alone, Roux tells her that if she doesn’t give her what she asks for, what she deserves, she’s going to make Amy pay for her sins. One way or another. To protect herself and her family and save the life she’s built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can’t beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins. A diabolically entertaining tale of betrayal, deception, temptation, and love filled with dark twists leavened by Joshilyn Jackson’s trademark humor, Never Have I Ever explores what happens when the transgressions of our past come back with a vengeance.

With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality---the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are. Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby boy—an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood. Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.

A fiercely independent divorce lawyer learns the power of family and connection when she receives a cryptic message from her estranged mother in this bittersweet, witty novel from the nationally bestselling author of Someone Else’s Love Story and Gods in Alabama—an emotionally resonant tale about the endurance of love and the power of stories to shape and transform our lives. Born in Alabama, Paula Vauss spent the first decade of her life on the road with her free-spirited young mother, Kai, an itinerant storyteller who blended Hindu mythology with southern oral tradition to re-invent their history as they roved. But everything, including Paula’s birth name Kali Jai, changed when she told a story of her own—one that landed Kai in prison and Paula in foster care. Separated, each holding secrets of her own, the intense bond they once shared was fractured. These days, Paula has reincarnated herself as a tough-as-nails divorce attorney with a successful practice in Atlanta. While she hasn’t seen Kai in fifteen years, she’s still making payments on that Karmic debt—until the day her last check is returned in the mail, along with a mysterious note: “I am going on a journey, Kali. I am going back to my beginning; death is not the end. You will be the end. We will meet again, and there will be new stories. You know how Karma works.” Then Kai’s most treasured secret literally lands on Paula’s doorstep, throwing her life into chaos and transforming her from only child to older sister. Desperate to find her mother before it’s too late, Paula sets off on a journey of discovery that will take her back to the past and into the deepest recesses of her heart. With the help of her ex-lover Birdwine, an intrepid and emotionally volatile private eye who still carries a torch for her, this brilliant woman, an expert at wrecking families, now has to figure out how to put one back together—her own. The Opposite of Everyone is a story about story itself, how the tales we tell connect us, break us, and define us, and how the endings and beginnings we choose can destroy us . . . and make us whole. Laced with sharp humor and poignant insight, it is beloved New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson at her very best.

New York Times bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson presents The New Voices in Fiction Sampler: Summer Selection. This free e-book sampler is a curated volume of excerpts from new and upcoming titles by debut fiction authors you''ll want to get familiar with early on. The New Voices in Fiction Sampler: Summer Selection includes: An Introduction from Joshilyn Jackson and an excerpt from her latest novel, Someone Else''s Love Story, on sale now. And excerpts from: The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor Up at Butternut Lake by Mary McNear The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta The From-Aways by CJ Hauser Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert Don''t Try to Find Me by Holly Brown Ice Shear by M.P. Cooley The Home Place by Carrie La Seur Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech Someone Else''s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Someone Else''s Love Story is beloved and highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson''s funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness; about falling in love, and learning that things aren''t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Nathan, aka Natty Bumppo, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents. She''s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up and falling in love with William Ashe, who willingly steps between the robber and her son. Shandi doesn''t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It''s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his world. But William doesn''t define destiny the way others do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in facts and numbers, destiny to him is about choice. Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

From New York Times bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson comes an e-original short story that gives a fierce and funny character from Someone Else''s Love Story a standalone adventure all her own. Shandi Pierce got pregnant when she was only seventeen years old. She fell for her son—deeply, instantly, completely—but as she sat at the table feeding him, her own mother was sliding eggs and bacon onto her plate, feeding her. Now, four years later, Shandi is still more parented than parent. She lives with her mom, her dad pays her bills, and her best friend, Walcott, acts as her white knight. But Natty is no ordinary kid, and when his savant behavior catches the attention of an obsessive stranger, only Shandi sees the true menace. To protect her son, Shandi must grow up—fast—and find an answer to the question, how can a girl remake herself into a mother?

"A Southern charmer, laced with humor, mystery, and affairs of the heart . . . A valentine to the bonds of family" from the New York Times –bestselling author ( Family Circle ). Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb—spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood—is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard and determined to figure out why it''s there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey''s strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women''s shared past—and who will stop at nothing to defend their future. "[An] intricate mystery, all deliciously unraveled one tantalizing clue at a time." — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "A heart-thumping mystery, an edge-of-your-seat drama, and a fiercely sweet comedy all at once." —Sara Gruen, New York Times –bestselling author "In her latest Southern Gothic joyride, Joshilyn Jackson creates an unforgettable story of generational dysfunction and sloppily buried secrets." — Atlanta Magazine "More than a Southern whodunit; it''s a tale that probes deeper and asks the reader to consider universal themes of self-identity, family, and love . . . The novel moves quickly, and Jackson gives each character an interesting story line." — The Charleston Post and Courier "Madness! Mayhem! Laughter! Tears! Emotional roller coasters, old lies, and an unmarked grave propel the Slocumb women into action. Joshilyn Jackson''s signature style explodes in A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty . Buckle up and enjoy!" —Adriana Trigiani, New York Times –bestselling author "Spellbinding . . . proves again that Joshilyn Jackson is one of the best writers of the new generation." —Mark Childress, author of Georgia Bottoms

Read this "enthralling" portrayal of the measures a mother will take to right the wrongs she''s created while reigniting her rough and tough Texan bravery (Kathryn Stockett, bestselling author of The Help). Rose Mae Lolley''s mother disappeared when she was eight, leaving Rose with a heap of old novels and a taste for dangerous men. Now, as demure Mrs. Ro Grandee, she''s living the very life her mother abandoned. She''s all but forgotten the girl she used to be-teenaged spitfire, Alabama heartbreaker, and a crack shot with a pistol-until an airport gypsy warns Rose it''s time to find her way back to that brave, tough girl . . . or else. Armed with only her wit, her pawpy''s ancient .45, and her dog Fat Gretel, Rose Mae hightails it out of Texas, running from a man who will never let her go, on a mission to find the mother who did. Starring a minor character from Jackson''s bestselling Gods in Alabama, Backseat Saints will dazzle readers with its stunning portrayal of the measures a mother will take to right the wrongs she''s created, and how far a daughter will travel to satisfy the demands of forgiveness.

A Southern woman''s picture perfect life begins to unravel when a body is found in her swimming pool in this novel from a New York Times –bestselling author. "Left me breathless. . . . You must read this book!" —Sara Gruen, New York Times –bestselling author of Water for Elephants Laurel Gray Hawthorne hasn''t seen a ghost in the thirteen years she and her husband have lived in their beautiful gated community. Then, in the dog days of a Florida August, she wakes to find Molly, her daughter''s best friend, standing by her bed, who then leads her to her own small body floating lifelessly in the Hawthornes'' pool. Laurel''s carefully constructed existence cracks, and the past seeps through . . . Laurel and her sister, Thalia, grew up in what looked like a typical blue-collar home. But the Grays have long been hiding a skeleton in their closet, While Laurel built her "perfect" life, Thalia became an actress with a capital A, a woman who doesn''t fit in Laurel''s tidy world. Now Molly can''t rest until someone learns her secrets. Laurel turns to her sister, and together they begin a journey that will unearth their family''s history, the true state of Laurel''s marriage, and what really happened to . . . "A vivid, smartly calibrated achievement . . .a ghost story, family psychodrama, and murder mystery all in one." — Entertainment Weekly "A breakthrough novel . . .full of unexpected twists . . .beautifully balanced between magical and realist fiction and [close] in tone and voice to Alice Sebold''s The Lovely Bones or Richard Ford''s Frank Bascombe trilogy." — Atlanta Journal-Constitution "A great tale. . . . Builds to an exciting and violent ending, one that surprises." — USA Today "Jackson matches effortless Southern storytelling with a keen eye for character and heart-stopping circumstances. . . . What makes this novel shine are its revelations about the dark side of Southern society and Thalia and Laurel''s finely honed relationship, which shows just how much thicker blood is than water." — Publishers Weekly

Nonny Frett understands the meanings of "rock" and "hard place" better than any woman ever born. She''s got two mothers, "one Deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy." She''s got two men: her husband, who''s easing out the back door; and her best friend, who''s laying siege to her heart in her front yard. She has a job that holds her in the city, and she''s addicted to a little girl who''s stuck deep in the country. And she has two families; the Fretts, who stole her and raised her right, and the Crabtrees, who lost her and can''t forget that they''ve been done wrong.

For 10 years Arlene has kept her promises, and God has kept His end of the bargain. Until now. When an old schoolmate from Possett turns up at Arlene''s door in Chicago asking questions about Jim Beverly, former quarterback and god of Possett High, Arlene''s break with her former hometown is forced to an end. At the same time, Burr, her long-time boyfriend, has raised an ultimatum: introduce him to her family or consider him gone. Arlene loves him dearly but knows her lily white (not to mention deeply racist)Southern Baptist family will not understand her relationship with an African American boyfriend. Reluctantly, Arlene bows to the pressure, and she and Burr embark on the long-avoided road trip back home. As Arlene digs through guilt and deception, her patched-together alibi begins to unravel, and she discovers how far she will go for love and a chance at redemption.