So we often have friends releasing new books. And we love to recommend them. Here’s our book recommendations. We try to get it done every Saturday but we are busy so we may have missed a few.

1. THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF TAKADA, JR. by Hovav Heth                                                                           Martin is a team leader at Rome Bank, the largest financial institution in the prole world. Like the billions of other proles crammed into the huge metropolis they can never leave, he leads a harsh life: one meal a day consumed at the workplace, no days off, and the constant threat of death from an accident or illness. One day, two thousand and seven hundred dollars go missing from the till of one of the tellers on his team.
   His superiors call in the Bureau of Security, infamous for its barbarity. Will Martin survive the investigation?
   
   Takada Jr. is a party member, the son of the powerful Senator Takada. The five-million Party members live in the lap of luxury, with no worries to concern them. But Takada Jr. finds the system unacceptable and wants to help the wretched proles. Then three of his father’s employees are murdered, a rare event in the world of the Party members, where crime is almost unheard of, and soon afterwards, Takada Jr. disappears. Is his disappearance connected to the murders? And will he succeed in his plan to reform the perverted social order?
   
   The Disappearance of Takada Jr. is a thrilling dystopian mystery, full of twists and secrets
2. The Hidden Cipher: A Knights Templar Conspiracy Thriller (The Templars Legacy Trilogy Book 1) by Rich Petrelli           “Gripping”—and Rich Petrelli’s The Hidden Cipher is exactly that… a relentless chase through ancient secrets, modern power, and the shadows between.
   
   Inspired by real historical mysteries, The Hidden Cipher is a work of fiction. It is not a historical account, and while it uses real locations and historical references as atmospheric backdrops, the narrative itself is entirely imagined.
   
   When a forbidden Templar manuscript resurfaces after seven centuries, cryptologist Dr. Elena Voss is the first to recognize the symbols etched inside—and the deadly warning buried beneath them. What begins as a routine analysis pulls her into a conspiracy protected by silence, blood, and a hidden order determined to reclaim the cipher at any cost.
   
   Readers of Dan Brown, Steve Berry, James Rollins, Simon Toyne, and Raymond Khoury will feel instantly at home in this pulse-pounding thriller that blends historical mystery with relentless modern danger. The Hidden Cipher explodes out of the gate with breakneck pacing, international intrigue, and a mystery carved into the bones of history.
   
   Joined by covert operative Antoine Rousseau and researcher Liam Hayes, Elena follows a hidden lattice of encrypted symbols across Europe—through echoing cathedrals, forgotten monasteries, restricted archives, and the sealed chambers of Templar strongholds. Each revelation pulls them deeper into a silent war that has smoldered for centuries… and every step forward stirs enemies who have killed to keep this truth buried.
   
   Because the cipher doesn’t just rewrite history—
   it reveals a truth powerful enough to end the human race.
   
   In this electrifying, globe-spanning thriller, descend into a world of forgotten orders, encrypted manuscripts, and conspiracies guarded for seven hundred years.
   Until now…
3. The Silent Survivor: An EMP Post Apocalypse Prepper Survival Thriller by Robert J Walker                                      The lights vanish. The cities fall.
   
   Alone on their ranch, a family must battle hunger, violence, and the enemy sweeping through the countryside. The lights died in seconds. Now the rules are gone. On an isolated ranch, one family faces starvation, raiders, and the end of everything they knew.
4. Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop: The Team That Changed Children’s Television by Nat Segaloff (Author), Mallory Lewis (Author), David Copperfield (Foreword)                    For almost half a century, celebrated ventriloquist and entertainer Shari Lewis (1933–1998) delighted generations of children and adults with the help of her trusted sock puppet sidekick, Lamb Chop. For decades, the beloved pair were synonymous with children’s television, educating and entrancing their young audience with their symbiotic personalities and their proclivity for song, dance, and the joy of silliness.
   
   But as iconic as their television personas are, relatively little inside knowledge has been revealed about Lewis herself and the life-changing moments that led her to the entertainment industry, and perhaps most importantly, to Lamb Chop.
   
   Renowned as a performer, Lewis was equally accomplished in business. Operating in an era when women were largely left out of the conversation, she was one of the few women to run her own television production company. Whether it was singing, dancing, conducting, writing, drawing, or ventriloquism—a skill in which she was virtually unmatched—Lewis spent the entirety of her sixty-five years in pursuit of performative perfection. Constantly innovating and adapting to the needs of her audience and the market, Lewis extended the longevity of her career decade after decade. Her contributions—particularly the creation of Lamb Chop and her puppet pals—forever changed the history of children’s television.
   
   Now, long after Lewis and Lamb Chop graced television with their final performance, Lewis’s daughter, Mallory, and author Nat Segaloff have set the record straight about the iconic pair in Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop: The Team That Changed Children’s Television. In this seminal biography, the authors pull the veritable wool from the eyes of audiences who adore the legendary entertainer to examine the joys, sorrows, triumphs, and sheer hard work that gave Lewis and Lamb Chop their enduring star power.
5. Random by Penn Jillette                                                        From Penn Jillette of the legendary magic duo Penn & Teller: a rollicking crime caper that will bend your mind like a spoon.
   
   
   “Penn Jillette is an atheist, triple-goddamned lunatic, and his book is a glorious Las Vegas lunatic paean to chance and adventure—a page-turning, scabrous, hilarious ride into randomness.” —Neil Gaiman
   
   
   
   “Jillette’s latest novel, Random, is about a young man who inherits his father’s crushing debt to a loan shark and turns to dice—and other dangerous measures—to dig himself out. That the dice bring him luck sends him a new philosophy of leaving decisions both big and small up to chance.” —New York Times
   
   
   
   Two weeks before his twenty-first birthday, Las Vegas native Bobby Ingersoll finds out he’s inherited a crushing gambling debt from his scumbag father. The debt is owed to an even scummier bag named Fraser Ruphart who oversees his bottom-rung criminal empire from the classy-adjacent Trump International Hotel. Bobby’s prospects of paying off the note, which comes due the day he turns twenty-one, are about as dim as the sign on the hotel’s facade.
   
   
   
   The two weeks pass in the blink of a (snake) eye, but before Bobby’s luck runs out, he stumbles upon enough cash to pay off Ruphart and change his family’s fortune. More importantly, he finds himself with a new, for lack of a better word, faith.
   
   
   
   Bobby does not consign his big break to a “higher power”—what Penn Jillette hero ever could? Instead, he devises and devotes himself to Random, a philosophy where his life choices are based entirely on the roll of his “lucky” dice. What follows is a rollicking exploration into not so much what defines us as what divines us when we give over every decision—from what to eat to whom to marry to how or when to die—to the random fall of two numbered cubes.
   
   
   
   Random combines the intellectual curiosity of Richard Dawkins with the humor and grit of an Elmore Leonard antihero. Jillette’s up-on-his-luck Ingersoll is the character we need to help us navigate the chaos of the post-truth era.

Come By Next Saturday for some more suggestions!

So we often have friends releasing new books. And we love to recommend them. Here’s our book recommendations. We try to get it done every Saturday but we are busy so we may have missed a few.

1. Undeterred: How One Determined Vietnamese Orphan Carved Out a Place for Himself in America by Bruce Carlin (Author), 3Niñas Publishing (Publisher)                                 determined Vietnamese orphan boy named Long who, despite the bigotry and hate he faces, carves out a place for himself in America. This is a positive immigrant success story.
   
   With tanks approaching and bombs exploding mere yards away, five-year-old Long has only moments to decide whether to risk the jump to join his brother in the water below. The boys must leave everything they know to survive and unknowingly have embarked on an intense journey that will lead to a new life in America.
   
   The boys face new perils in the United States and find that the only thing they can depend on is each other. Encountering the indifference and neglect inside a string of foster homes, Long determines that the only way to regain his independence is to earn his own money. Undeterred is Long’s story of starting from zero, setting goals for himself, and achieving the American dream of being a multi-millionaire as few ever have.
2. The Coven Princess: A YA Fantasy Novel (The Coven Series Book 1) by Lily Luchesi                                                               Your blood does not define you.
   
   Harley Torrance’s parents were killed in a home invasion when she was three. Adopted by a nice couple, Harley begins to develop strange powers. At fourteen she brews a potion so strong it gains the attention of the Coven King, and changes her world forever.
   
   She’s not human, she’s a witch.
   
   Now a part of the magical community, Harley must learn to control her powers lest the Darkness already in her blood overcomes her. Can she dampen her lust for power in order to stop the Dark from taking over the Coven and killing everyone in their way?
   
   One click this epic YA fantasy novel today!
3. Stake-Out: An Urban Fantasy Romance (The Paranormal Detectives Book 1) by Lily Luchesi                                        Enter the Underworld of Chicago.
   
   Join Detective Danny Mancini as he discovers the things that go bump in the night exist, and he’s on their radar. His only hope to get revenge and not become a vampire’s dinner? Join the Paranormal Investigative Division of the FBI.
   
   Angelica Cross is a woman who doesn’t take no for an answer, and through her persuasion, she gets Danny prepared to face down an ancient evil. But she has her own reasons for wanting the vamp dead, and they might tear apart the tenuous relationship she and Danny are building.
   
   Can they save Chicago, get revenge for countless deaths, as well as accept each other exactly as they are? Or will centuries’ old wounds create a chasm too deep to survive?
   
   One-click the bestselling debut UF novel today!
4. The Devil’s Own: Murphy’s Law, Book One by K.A. Fox                                                                                          Delaney Murphy has always known she’s the Devil’s daughter. And although the title itself is a burden, she never expects to inherit all her father’s infernal abilities. When her newfound magic begins to poison the people closest to her, Laney must make a choice. To protect the world from the worst she can do, she leaves everyone she loves behind and builds a new life for herself, alone, in a place where she can control the urge to give in to the magic living within her. But when she recognizes a familiar pattern in a string of murders, Laney leaves her peaceful, isolated life behind and goes on the hunt, unleashing a threat she never dreamed possible. Confronting this menacing specter could mean giving in to temptation and becoming the one thing she fears most. Will she use her magic to do the right thing, even if it means hurting the ones she loves?
5. Sessions with a Demon by Finn O’Malley                                                                                        Are you ready for your first session of therapy? Everyone’s got issues, even demons. When Ren, a Synergy demon, begins to show favor towards his assignments it creates concern for his superiors and he is sentenced to the one thing he never expected: Weekly sessions with famed demon therapist Dr. Lilith Madson. A moral debacle ensues when an intriguing human recognizes his invisible presence on the streets and forces him to realize Lilith may have a wicked agenda of her own. Whose side will he take? The human with the all-consuming need for revenge or the delusional therapist determined to wreak havoc?

Come By Next Saturday for some more suggestions!

So we often have friends releasing new books. And we love to recommend them. Here’s our book recommendations. We try to get it done every Saturday but we are busy so we may have missed a few.

1. The Last Morning: A Thriller (The Secrets of Chapel Roads Book 1) by Camden Baird                                                            In her pulse-pounding psychological thriller debut, author Camden Baird lays bare the anguish and terror of a mother living out her worst nightmare when her young child goes missing.
   
   Sadie Wilson’s heart stops the moment the phone rings. Deep in her soul, she knows what’s coming, and the voice on the other end only confirms her fears: Emma never made it to school. Her sweet, scared five-year-old climbed onto the bus for her very first day of kindergarten…and then vanished.
   
   Struggling to push aside her grief to focus on getting her daughter back, Sadie finds herself slipping deeper into despair. The growing list of suspects weighs heavily on her mind: the secretive teacher, the registered sex offender, the delusional neighbor, the disgruntled ex-wife, the evasive principal—everyone seems to have a connection to Emma. And a surprising grudge to bear.
   
   Thankfully Sadie’s got her loving husband, Allen, by her side. But she can’t help feeling he’s hiding something too.
   
   Edgy and full of twists, The Last Morning is an emotional thrill ride, unfolding little by little from each suspect’s point of view.
2. Smells Like Rain by Kate Radtke                                             This coming-of-age thriller follows Mackenzie Ambrose, a redheaded teenager from a trailer park, as he navigates friendship, bullying, family struggles, and the dark secrets lurking in his small town. When a classmate is found dead near Mackenzie’s home, long-standing wounds and suspicions are ripped open. As he and his friends, Ally and Jason, dig deeper, they uncover a hidden journal in their school’s basement—written by a disturbed former student from the 1970s who details his progression from animal cruelty to murder. Their investigation leads them through decades-old mysteries, present-day dangers, and chilling connections between past and present crimes.
   
   Amidst bullying, first crushes, and family drama—including Mackenzie’s estranged mother reappearing—Mackenzie is drawn into a deadly game with a serial killer who has returned to town. As he pieces together clues from old yearbooks, town rumors, and the journal, Mackenzie must face his worst fears and fight for survival. The story weaves together themes of trauma, resilience, forgiveness, and the complexities of growing up, culminating in a tense showdown that tests the bonds of friendship and the meaning of home.
3. Zombie Turkeys: How an Unknown Blogger Fought Unkillable Turkeys (Life After Life) by Mr. Andy Zach (Author), Ms. Dori Harrell (Editor), Mr. Rik Hall (Editor), Mr. Sean Patrick Flanagan (Illustrator)                               Sam Melvin, an underachieving e-reporter from a small town, changes forever when he meets turkeys that won’t stay dead. The undead plague of poultry spreads uncontrollably, rocking the whole country. As Sam tracks down the zombie turkeys and how to eradicate them, his editor, Lisa Kambacher, nags him to turn his stories and expenses in on time. During their years of working together, Lisa has mellowed into an irascible pinchpenny. Lisa snipes at Sam for plebeian writing but uses her intelligence to pursue the lucrative carnivorous turkey story. Sam and Lisa ricochet across the landscape, tracking turkeys and fleeing the bloodthirsty hordes. Careening from shell-shocked grocery store owners fighting turkeys crawling out of refrigerators, to machine-gunning turkey farmers, to secret militia, Sam and Lisa doggedly report. Throughout the turkey apocalypse, they dare ravaged cities, plow knee deep in gore and corpses, and upload streams of zombie turkey video news to the world.With paranoid militias clashing with the federal government and unkillable turkeys, Sam and Lisa doubt their ability to survive. Sam and Lisa have no superpowers. If you have a heart condition or lack humor, you should not read Zombie Turkeys, no matter how much you want to find out what happens.
4. Dwarf: A Memoir by Tiffanie DiDonato (Author), Rennie Dyball (Author)                                                                          “It’s okay with me if you picked up this book because you’re curious about what it’s like to live with dwarfism. But I hope that you’ll take away much more—about adapting to the world when it won’t adapt to you.”—from Dwarf
   
   A memoir of grit and transformation for anyone who has been told something was impossible and then went on to do it anyway.
   
   Tiffanie DiDonato was born with dwarfism. Her limbs were so short that she was not able to reach her own ears. She was also born with a serious case of optimism. She decided to undergo a series of painful bone-lengthening surgeries that gave her an unprecedented 14 inches of height—and the independence she never thought she’d have.
   
   After her surgeries, Tiffanie was able to learn to drive, to live in the dorms during college, and to lead a normal life. She even made time to volunteer, writing to troops stationed abroad, and one of those Marine pen pals ultimately became her husband.
   
   Dwarf is a moving and, at times, funny testament to the power of sheer determination, and has been compared to Andrew Solomon’s Far From the Tree.
   
   Watch her Good Morning America segment: https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/dwarf-womans-story-undergoing-controversial-lengthening-surgeries/story?id=17841466
5. The Crazy Walk: A Stroll With The Struggle by Debbie Dick The Crazy Walk discusses many aspects of mental health struggle from a person who has experienced each one. Psychotic breaks, medication, support systems, marching on, victimhood, PTSD, and other topics that I can all personally speak to. This is not a memoir. This is a voice for people who struggle with these issues. You may notice that the individual pieces are quite short. This is intentional. People who struggle with mental health issues often cannot read a whole book to gain something. I know, because I cannot, and I am not alone. With this in mind I crafted each page carefully. Each piece offers something different. I hope for The Crazy Walk to offer assistance to support systems by helping them understand what a loved one goes through. I hope that my work will help readers know they are not alone. That someone really does get it. This project is not about telling my story. If that were true, I would have written something entirely different. This project is about reaching out to others. Won’t you walk with me?
6. Shaggy’s Cheeseburgers: A Real World Tragedy-To-Triumph Story… Through Hope, Love and Change by Ron Ladner                                                         What if a simple cheeseburger held the secret to rebuilding your life—and your community?
   
   When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast, entrepreneur Ron Ladner lost everything. But from the wreckage emerged something extraordinary: Shaggy’s, a restaurant that would become far more than a place to grab a burger. It became a symbol of hope, resilience, and the unbreakable spirit of a community determined to rise again.
   
   In Shaggy’s Cheeseburgers, Ladner serves up a deeply personal story that’s equal parts memoir, business blueprint, and love letter to the Gulf Coast. With warmth, humor, and unflinching honesty, he reveals how a simple cheeseburger became the foundation for rebuilding not just a business, but an entire way of life.
   
   This isn’t just another entrepreneur’s success story—it’s a masterclass in:
   
   Turning catastrophic loss into opportunity to start over
   Building a business culture that puts people first
   Finding purpose through service to others
   The power of community in overcoming adversity
   Why the simplest pleasures often hold the deepest meaning
   
   From childhood adventures on the Mississippi coast to the heart-wrenching aftermath of Katrina, from the first uncertain days of opening Shaggy’s to watching it become an iconic Gulf Coast restaurant, Ladner’s story will make you laugh, cry, and believe in the extraordinary power of ordinary moments.
   
   Featuring candid testimonials from Shaggy’s team members and community members whose lives were touched by this remarkable restaurant, Shaggy’s Cheeseburgers reminds us that sometimes the most profound truths come wrapped in the simplest packages—like a perfectly crafted cheeseburger, shared with the people who matter most.
   
   Perfect for readers who loved Kitchen Confidential, Shoe Dog, A Pirate Looks at Fifty, or anyone seeking inspiration about resilience, leadership, community, and finding joy in life’s simple pleasures.

Come By Next Saturday for some more suggestions!