New Release Adult Fiction: February 2026
Is This a Cry For Help? by Emily Austin
GENRE: Contemporary, LGBT
THE SYNOPSIS: Darcy’s life turned out better than she could have ever imagined. She is a librarian at the local branch, while her wife Joy runs a book binding service. Between the two of them, there is no more room on their shelves with their ample book collections, various knickknacks and bobbles, and dried bouquets. Rounding out their ideal life is two cats and a sun-soaked house by the lake.
But when Darcy receives the news that her ex-boyfriend, Ben, has passed away, she spirals into a pit of guilt and regret, resulting in a mental breakdown and medical leave from the library. When she returns to work, she is met by unrest in her community, and protests surrounding intellectual freedom, resulting in a call for book bans and a second look at the branch’s upcoming DEI programs.
Through the support of her community, colleagues, and the personal growth that results from examining her previous relationships, Darcy comes into her own agency and the truest version of herself.
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Catch Her if You Can (Big Shots #5) by Tessa Bailey
GENRE: Romance
THE SYNOPSIS: Madden Donahue, the newest catcher for the Yankees, has been in love with Eve Mitchell since high school, but for some mysterious reason, the burlesque club owner always turns him down. That never stopped him from being her self-appointed protector. Case in point, now that Eve’s sister has left Eve with her two children indefinitely, Madden steps in with a proposition—marry him for the much needed health benefits.
Eve has secretly harbored feelings for Madden all along, but there’s one problem—her best friend Skylar called dibs on him when they were fourteen. Eve has always put their friendship above all else, and she’s not willing to risk losing Skylar over a man. Raised by the local strip club owner, Eve is woefully short on friends and treasures the ones she has. But with Skylar happily paired off, Eve finds herself accepting Madden’s proposal—on the condition that their marriage remains strictly private. She’s not about to let her unique profession and maligned reputation destroy Madden’s shiny new career.
Madden won’t let Eve get away that easily, though. What starts as a marriage of convenience soon ignites into something much hotter, and now it’s up to Madden to convince Eve that their connection is far more than a business arrangement. As the passion builds, can their fake marriage become the real deal?
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Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
GENRE: Literary Fiction, Humour, Family
THE SYNOPSIS: The Flynn family is coming undone. Catherine and Bud's open marriage has reached its breaking point as their daughters spiral in their own chaotic: Abigail, the eldest, is dating a man in his twenties nicknamed War Crime Wes; Louise, the middle child, maintains a secret correspondence with an online terrorist; the brilliant youngest, Harper, is being sent to wilderness reform camp due to her insistence that someone—or something—is monitoring the town’s citizens.
Casting a shadow across their lives, and their small coastal town, is Paul Alabaster, a billionaire shipping magnate. Rumors of corruption circulate, but no one dares dig too deep. No one except Harper, whose obsession with a mysterious shipping container sends the family hurtling into a criminal conspiracy—one that may just bring them closer together.
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Exit Strategy (Jack Reacher #30) by Lee Child & Andrew Child
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller
THE SYNOPSIS: First—a Baltimore coffee shop. A seat in the corner, facing the door. Black coffee, two refills, no messing around. A minor interruption from two of the customers, but nothing he can’t deal with swiftly. As he leaves, a young guy brushes against him in the doorway. Instinctively Reacher checks the pocket holding his cash and passport. There’s no problem. Nothing is missing.
Second—a store to buy a coat. Nothing fancy. Something he can ditch when he heads to warmer climates. Large enough to fit a man the size of a bank vault. As he pulls out his cash, he finds something new in his pocket. A handwritten note. A desperate plea for help.
Third—wherever this bend in the road takes him. Impressed by the guy’s technique and intrigued by the message, Reacher makes it his mission to find out more . .
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Sharpe’s Storm (Sharpe #19) by Bernard Cornwell
GENRE: Historical Fiction, War
THE SYNOPSIS: War against Napoleon rages across Europe. As Britain prepares to invade France for the first time, the formidable Richard Sharpe and his men brace themselves for a cold, hard winter.
Before them, across flooded rivers and fortified bridges, lies the fiercest French army they have ever encountered. There is only one way forward for Wellington's army, and it will be bloody. . . .
Major Sharpe may be in for his toughest winter yet.
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The Right to Remain (Jack Swyteck #20) by James Grippando
GENRE: Mystery, Legal Thriller
THE SYNOPSIS: Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck must contend with a unique problem. His client, Elliott Stafford, indicted for murder, has gone silent. Not just silent in asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination—Elliott refuses to speak. He won’t talk to the judge, his girlfriend, or even the attorney fighting for his life. There seems to be no medical or psychological reason for his silence. He has, as Jack puts it, “chosen to become his own worst enemy.”
To some, it’s an act of protest against a broken criminal justice system. Jack doesn’t buy it. Undeterred by the hoopla and calls to walk away, he keeps his client and tries his best to save Elliott from himself. As he digs for facts, Jack discovers a much more disturbing reason for Elliott’s silence. Virtually everything Elliott told Jack before the indictment is proving false, including Elliot’s criminal history, family turmoil, and secret past. As Jack plunges deeper, he comes to believe that Elliott isn’t trying to hide his own guilt. He may be protecting someone else—and the stakes could not be higher.
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The Bourne Revenge (Jason Bourne #22) by Robert Ludlum
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller, Espionage
THE SYNOPSIS: Shadow – the head of Treadstone – has found evidence of massive Chinese espionage activity in the U.S. The spy running the operations is a shadowy American known only by the codename Bai Ze. No one knows who he is, but when Shadow consults the Files – the hacked AI database she stole from the Chinese – she discovers that Jason Bourne encountered Bai Ze during an operation eight years earlier.
The trouble is, Bourne doesn’t remember him.
As Bourne hunts for the elusive spy, he meets a reporter named Laney Reese who shares his strange eight years ago, Laney lost her entire memory, too. For Bourne, that can’t be a coincidence. He’s convinced that whatever happened to both of them is at the heart of the Chinese espionage operation.
With Laney at his side, Bourne follows a zigzagging trail of clues to a quirky billionaire and his ex-wife, both of whom may have ties to Bai Ze. As he gets closer to his shadowy adversary, Bourne begins to suspect that he’s walking into a trap. But it’s a trap with an almost irresistible bait – the chance to recover his forgotten memories.
Now Bourne must decide how far he’ll go to get his life back.
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Showdown (Spenser #52) by Robert B. Parker
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
THE SYNOPSIS: Vic Hale isn’t anyone’s idea of a father figure. He is one of the biggest – and loudest -- podcasters in the nation and got there by spewing overheated rhetoric that’s reviled by some but loved by even more. His particular brand of “entertainment” is so successful, he’s about to sign the biggest contract in the history of online broadcasting. Vic’s riding high...until he gets a visit from Spenser, who specializes in bringing guys like Hale back down to Earth.
Spenser is there on behalf of Daniel Lopez, a young man who believes Hale may be his father. It’s a potentially explosive revelation for a man in the podcaster’s position and it might even be enough to blow up his massive new deal. That could explain the bodies that start popping up – bodies connected in one way or another with the mystery surrounding Daniel’s birth. There are a lot of questions remaining, and Spenser’s going to have to find the answers before someone shuts Hale or Daniel up for good.
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The Invisible Woman by James Patterson
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller
THE SYNOPSIS: My name is Elinor Gilbert. And I am the Invisible Woman.
No, not the kind who can walk through walls, or make a deck of cards look like it’s shuffling itself. The other kind, facing uncertainty in middle age.
Once a top FBI agent, Elinor had faded into obscurity, her past mistakes casting long shadows. But when a call from her former boss offers a shot at redemption, she can’t resist. Her infiltrate the opulent world of a New York art dealer suspected of laundering money for a notorious drug cartel.
Suddenly disguised as a grandmotherly nanny, nothing can prepare Elinor for what she encounters behind closed doors of his brownstone family home.
Surveillance is second nature. Babysitting is not.
But as the risks increase and dark secrets are unveiled, she also develops an unexpected love for the young charges she’s hired to protect.
Can she betray the trust of those who have come to depend on her to get the job done?
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Private Rome (Private #18) by James Patterson
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
THE SYNOPSIS: A priest is murdered and a private agent is the number one suspect.
Jack Morgan is in Rome celebrating the opening of a new local Private office, when the party takes a deadly turn.
Private agent Matteo Ricci is found at the party standing over the body of a dead priest with a gun in hand, swearing he did not kill the man. As Jack tries to prove Matteo's innocence, he uncovers a much deadlier conspiracy - which leads him straight to the heart of the Vatican. With corruption closing in on all sides, Jack must decide who he can trust before the city falls.
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So I Met This Guy… by Alexandra Potter
GENRE: Romance
THE SYNOPSIS: So, I Met This Guy . . . Well, isn’t that how every love story starts? But what we don’t know is, how will it end?
For Maggie, she certainly didn’t expect it to involve discovering the supposed love-of-her-life stole her life-savings, along with her home, heart and self-esteem. So, when she meets Flick, a young reporter, who realises this story could be the big break she’s been looking for, they set off together to catch him as he goes on the run across Europe. After all, she’s got nothing left to lose, right?
But as the pair embark on the road trip of their lives, unexpected twists, hidden secrets and hard truths are revealed. And as an unlikely friendship begins to blossom, they realise it’s not just about finding the guy, it’s about finding themselves.
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Pendergast: The Beginning by Preston & Child
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller
THE SYNOPSIS: It only took six months for the life of Special Agent Dwight Chambers to crumble around him. First, he lost his partner, and then, tragically, his wife. Returning to work at the New Orleans Field Office, Chambers is dismayed to find himself saddled with mentoring a brand new FBI agent—a certain A. X. L. Pendergast. As Chambers tries to pull himself together, his enigmatic and exasperating junior partner pulls an outrageous stunt that gets both of them suspended.
Pendergast welcomes the banishment, because it gives him the opportunity to investigate a peculiar murder in Mississippi that has captured his fancy. Chambers grudgingly goes along. What starts off as a whimsical quest swiftly turns into a terrifying pursuit, as Chambers and Pendergast uncover a string of grisly, ritualistic killings that defy any known serial killer profile.
Thanks in large part to Pendergast’s brilliance and unorthodox methods, they solve the case and find the killer… and that is when the true horror begins.
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The Long Game (Game Changers #6) by Rachel Reid
GENRE: LGBT Romance
THE SYNOPSIS:
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Stolen in Death (In Death #62) by J.D. Robb
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller, Romance
THE SYNOPSIS: A blow to the head with a block of amethyst has left multibillionaire Nathan Barrister dead―while nearby, a vault, its door ajar, sits filled with priceless paintings, jewelry, and other treasures. Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s husband, Roarke―who misspent his youth in Ireland as a scrappy thief―recognizes at least two stolen pieces among the hoard. The crime scene suggests a burglar caught in the act. But only one item seems to be missing.
Then it’s revealed that the vault had actually belonged to the victim’s late father―and no one in the household knew it was there until a recent remodeling project exposed it. To protect the family name and business, they explain to Eve, they’d been looking for a way to return the ill-gotten gains anonymously and avoid the police. But now the police are all over their elegant house, and have a bigger, bloodier mystery to solve.
By all accounts, Nathan Barrister was a good man, a generous employer, a devoted husband and father. As for his father―he clearly had secrets. Now it’s up to Eve and her team to find out if those secrets got Nathan killed―and if it was a crime of passion or revenge.
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A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James
GENRE: Mystery, Thriller
THE SYNOPSIS: Strange things happen in Fell, New York: A mysterious drowning at the town’s roadside motel. The unexplained death of a young girl whose body is left by the railroad tracks. For Violet, Vail, and Dodie Esmie the final straw was their little brother's shocking disappearance, which started as a normal game of hide-and-seek.
As their parents grew increasingly distant, the sisters were each haunted by visions and frightening events, leading them to leave town and never look back. Violet still sees dead people—spirits who remind her of Sister, the menacing presence that terrorized her for years. Now after nearly two decades it’s time for a homecoming—because Ben is back, and he’s ready to lead them to the answers they’ve longed for and long feared.
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