April 2023 Adult Top 10 Picks

← Return to Archive Sign up for our mailing list
  1. Simply Lies
    by David Baldacci
    Grand Central Publishing
    Apr 18, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    Simply Lies
    by David Baldacci
    Grand Central Publishing
    Apr 18, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback

    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 6:20 Man comes a twisting new psychological thriller in which two women—one a former detective, the other a dangerous con artist—go head-to-head in an electrifying game of cat and mouse.
    Mickey Gibson, single mother and former detective, leads a hectic life similar to that of many moms: juggling the demands of her two small children with the tasks of her job working remotely for ProEye, a global investigation company that hunts down wealthy tax and credit cheats.

    When Mickey gets a call from a colleague named Arlene Robinson, she thinks nothing of Arlene’s unusual request for her to go inventory the vacant home of an arms dealer who cheated ProEye’s clients and fled. That is, until she arrives at the mansion to discover a dead body in a secret room—and that nothing is as it seems.

    Not only does the arms dealer not exist but the murder victim turns out to be Harry Langhorne, a man with mob ties who used to be in Witness Protection. What’s more, no one named Arlene Robinson works at ProEye.

    In the blink of an eye, Gibson has become a prime suspect in a murder investigation—and now her job is also on the line until she proves that she was set up. Before long, Gibson is locked in a battle of wits with a brilliant woman with no name, a hidden past, and unknown motives—whose end game is as mysterious as it is deadly.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  2. Happy Place
    by Emily Henry
    Berkley
    Apr 25, 2023
    FICTION / Romance / Romantic Comedy
    Hardback
    Happy Place
    by Emily Henry
    Berkley
    Apr 25, 2023
    FICTION / Romance / Romantic Comedy
    Hardback
    INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

    “The beach-read master hooks us again."—People


    Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by BuzzFeed ∙ Paste Magazine ∙ Elle Southern Living ∙ SheReads Culturess ∙ Medium ∙ Her Campus Readers Digest ∙ Zibby Mag and more!

    A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.


    Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

    They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

    Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

    Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
    View this title on BNC CataList
  3. Homecoming
    by Kate Morton
    Simon & Schuster
    Apr 04, 2023
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    Homecoming
    by Kate Morton
    Simon & Schuster
    Apr 04, 2023
    FICTION / Literary
    Paperback / softback
    The highly anticipated new novel from the New York Times and #1 Globe and Mail bestselling author of The Clockmaker’s Daughter, a sweeping saga that begins with a shocking crime that echoes across continents and generations.

    Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959

    At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.

    Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in hospital.

    At Nora’s house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this notorious event—a murder mystery that has never been satisfactorily resolved.

    An epic story that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, how we protect the lies we tell, and what it means to come home. Above all, it is an intricate and spellbinding novel from one of the finest writers working today.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  4. Coronation Year
    by Jennifer Robson Canada
    William Morrow
    Apr 04, 2023
    Hardback
    Coronation Year
    by Jennifer Robson Canada
    William Morrow
    Apr 04, 2023
    Hardback

    The USA Today bestselling author of The Gown returns with another enthralling and royal historical novel— as the lives of three very different residents of London’s historic Blue Lion hotel converge in a potentially explosive climax on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation.

    It is Coronation Year, 1953, and a new queen is about to be crowned. The people of London are in a mood to celebrate, none more so than the residents of the Blue Lion hotel.

    • Edie Howard, owner and operator of the floundering Blue Lion, has found the miracle she needs: on Coronation Day, Queen Elizabeth in her gold coach will pass by the hotel’s front door, allowing Edie to charge a fortune for rooms and, barring disaster, save her beloved home from financial ruin. Edie’s luck might just be turning, all thanks to a young queen about her own age.
    • Stella Donati, a young Italian photographer and Holocaust survivor, has come to live at the Blue Lion while she takes up a coveted position at Picture Weekly magazine. London in celebration mode feels like a different world to her. As she learns the ins and outs of her new profession, Stella discovers a purpose and direction that honor her past and bring hope for her future.
    • James Geddes, a war hero and gifted artist, has struggled to make his mark in a world that disdains his Indian ancestry. At the Blue Lion, though, he is made to feel welcome and worthy. Yet even as his friendship with Edie deepens, he begins to suspect that something is badly amiss at his new home.

    When anonymous threats focused on Coronation Day, the Blue Lion, and even the queen herself disrupt their mood of happy optimism, Edie and her friends must race to uncover the truth, save their home, and expose those who seek to erase the joy and promise of Coronation Year.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  5. Dark Angel
    by John Sandford
    G.P. Putnam's Sons
    Apr 11, 2023
    FICTION / Crime
    Hardback
    Dark Angel
    by John Sandford
    G.P. Putnam's Sons
    Apr 11, 2023
    FICTION / Crime
    Hardback
    Letty Davenport, the tough-as-nails adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport, takes on an undercover assignment that brings her across the country and into the crosshairs of a dangerous group of hackers.

    Letty Davenport’s days working a desk job at are behind her. Her previous actions at a gunfight in Texas—and her incredible skills with firearms—draw the attention of several branches of the US government, and make her a perfect fit for even more dangerous work. The Department of Homeland Security and the NSA have tasked her with infiltrating a hacker group, known only as Ordinary People, that is intent on wreaking havoc. Letty and her reluctant partner from the NSA pose as free-spirited programmers for hire and embark on a cross country road trip to the group’s California headquarters.

    While the two work to make inroads with Ordinary People and uncover their plans, they begin to suspect that the hackers are not their only enemy. Someone within their own circle may have betrayed them, and has ulterior motives that place their mission—and their lives—in grave danger.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  6. The Only Survivors
    by Megan Miranda
    S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books
    Apr 11, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The Only Survivors
    by Megan Miranda
    S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books
    Apr 11, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    A New York Times Bestseller
    A LibraryReads Hall of Fame Pick

    They were nine survivors. Now, a decade later, only seven remain...how long can they keep the promise made that night? Don’t miss this “gripping thriller” (CrimeReads) from the Reese Witherspoon Book Club selected and New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda.

    A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night.

    To keep one another safe.
    To hold one another accountable.
    Or both.

    Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy and from the other survivors. She’s changed her mobile number. She’s blocked the others’ email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion.

    Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn’t raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they’re facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters…again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they’ve been through, she wouldn’t willfully make them worry. Would she?

    And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they?

    A propulsive and chilling locked-box mystery filled with the dazzling hairpin twists that are the author’s signature, The Only Survivors is New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda’s best novel yet.
    View this title on BNC CataList
  7. In the Lives of Puppets
    by TJ Klune
    Tor Books
    Apr 25, 2023
    FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary
    Hardback
    In the Lives of Puppets
    by TJ Klune
    Tor Books
    Apr 25, 2023
    FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary
    Hardback

    A NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND INDIE BESTSELLER!

    New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune invites you deep into the heart of a peculiar forest and on the extraordinary journey of a family assembled from spare parts.

    Most Anticipated from BookPage • Goodreads • The Nerd Daily • Paste Magazine • LitReactor • OverDrive • LGBTQ Reads • Tor.com LibraryReads • more

    “An enchanting tale of Pinocchio in the end times.” —P. Djèlí Clark


    In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots—fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.

    The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labeled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio–a past spent hunting humans.

    When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

    Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

    Inspired by Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, and like Swiss Family Robinson meets Wall-E, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful stand-alone fantasy adventure from the beloved author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.

    ★ “An epic quest of rescue and discovery [with] the author’s trademark charm, heart, and bittersweetness.” —Library Journal, starred review

    Praise for TJ Klune’s previous work: "Like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket." —V.E. SCHWAB • “Very close to perfect.” —SEANAN McGUIRE • “Utterly absorbing.” —GAIL CARRIGER • "It will renew your faith in humanity.” —TERRY BROOKS • “It healed me.” —CASSANDRA KHAW • “Compassionate.” —RYKA AOKI

    View this title on BNC CataList
  8. The Last Remains
    by Elly Griffiths
    Mariner Books
    Apr 25, 2023
    Hardback
    The Last Remains
    by Elly Griffiths
    Mariner Books
    Apr 25, 2023
    Hardback

    The discovery of a missing woman’s bones force Ruth and Nelson to finally confront their feelings for each other as they desperately work to exonerate one of their own in this not-to-be-missed Ruth Galloway mystery from USA Today bestselling author Elly Griffiths.

    When builders discover a human skeleton during a renovation of a café, they call in archeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway, who is preoccupied with the threatened closure of her department and by her ever-complicated relationship with DCI Nelson. The bones turn out to be modern—the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who went missing in 2002. Suspicion soon falls on Emily’s Cambridge tutor and also on another archeology enthusiast who was part of the group gathered the weekend before she disappeared—Ruth’s friend Cathbad.

    As they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of relationships within the archeology group and look for a link between them and the café where Emily’s bones were found. Then, just when the team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. The trail leads Ruth a to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves. The race is on, first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend?


    View this title on BNC CataList
  9. The Soulmate
    by Sally Hepworth
    St. Martin's Press
    Apr 04, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Domestic
    Hardback
    The Soulmate
    by Sally Hepworth
    St. Martin's Press
    Apr 04, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Domestic
    Hardback

    “One of the best thrillers of the year”—The New York Times

    "The book is many things: a crime story, a psychological study, a blueprint for how and when to mete out information in a thriller. But most of all it is an inquiry into the mysteries of marriage and commitment, and into what we owe our spouses and one another." --The New York Times Book Review

    Prepare yourself for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in this next book from the bestselling author of The Good Sister and The Younger Wife.


    Picture a lovely cottage on a cliff, with sloping lawns, walking paths, and beautiful flowers. It’s Gabe and Pippa Gerard’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Over the past several months, Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge.

    Until one day, he doesn’t. When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral. . . .Did the victim jump? Was she pushed? And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate . . . lie? As the perfect façade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel. Because sometimes, the most convincing lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

    View this title on BNC CataList
  10. Where Are the Children Now?
    by Mary Higgins Clark
    Simon & Schuster
    Apr 18, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    Where Are the Children Now?
    by Mary Higgins Clark
    Simon & Schuster
    Apr 18, 2023
    FICTION / Thrillers / Suspense
    Hardback
    The legacy of the “Queen of Suspense” continues with the highly anticipated follow-up to Mary Higgins Clark’s iconic novel Where Are the Children?, featuring the children of Nancy Harmon, facing peril once again as adults.

    Of the fifty-six bestsellers the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark published in her lifetime, Where Are the Children? was her biggest, selling millions of copies and forever transforming the genre of suspense fiction. In that story, a young California mother named Nancy Harmon was convicted of murdering her two children. Though released on a technicality, she was abandoned by her husband and became such a pariah in the media that she was forced to move across the country to Cape Cod, change her identity and appearance, and start a new life. Years later her two children from a second marriage, Mike and Melissa, would go missing, and Nancy yet again became the prime suspect—but this time, Nancy was able to confront the secrets buried in her past and rescue her kids from a dangerous predator.

    Now, more than four decades since readers first met Nancy and her children, comes the thrilling sequel to the groundbreaking book that set the stage for future generations of psychological suspense novels. A lawyer turned successful podcaster, Melissa has recently married a man whose first wife died tragically, leaving him and their young daughter, Riley, behind. While Melissa and her brother, Mike, help their mom, Nancy, relocate from Cape Cod to the equally idyllic Hamptons, Melissa’s new stepdaughter goes missing. Drawing on the experience of their own abduction, Melissa and Mike race to find Riley to save her from the trauma they still struggle with—or worse.

    Just like the original, Where Are the Children Now? keeps readers guessing and holding their breath until the very last page.
    View this title on BNC CataList

Sign up for our mailing list!

Sign up for the latest top 10 lists and other news about Loan Stars. You can unsubscribe at any time.


Sign up!