LETRAS

No one said fair trade needed to be “fair.” As the owner of Honeysuckle Salon, Jessie Barnes usually has everything managed and on track, but now in her third trimester of an unexpected pregnancy, she feels a bit lost and increasingly desperate after faulty plumbing floods her apartment. Unfortunately, her knight in shining armor is actually Dr. Drew Marshall, her best friend’s brother, and he’s also the man she chewed out not too long ago for being a chauvinistic dirtbag. Every moment Drew’s had to prove her wrong since then has failed, so Jessie’s opinion of him hasn’t improved. That remains the case when he agrees to let her stay with him during renovations, under one condition: She pretends to be his girlfriend for upcoming work festivities. For the sake of her brother, Jessie is willing to make the tough situation work, and giving Drew a taste of his own medicine sounds . . . intriguing. But when their rivalry sparks a deeper connection, Jessie’s future becomes even more unclear—and with a baby on the way, she’ll have to make a decision soon.

Buried in the shadows of the city, there’s an abandoned hotel called The Pope, surrounded by a mystery about the hidden twelfth floor and the guest who never checked out. Banks knows the local legend, but Kai Mori believes the myth around the hotel. He and his friends think they know her, think they can scare her, but Banks knows something they don’t. Even though she struggles to hide everything she feels when Kai looks at her, the person he seeks is much closer than he’ll ever realize.

Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favorite romantasy series Elytheum Courts, where the romance is sweeping and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged. Newly single and craving connection, she travels to an immersive fan experience celebrating all things Elytheum, only to see the last face she expected—Scott Daniels, her work nemesis, whose disinterest in Jennifer’s favorite series and standoffishness have made their publishing jobs feel like a feuding fae court. Except the Scott she encounters at the Elytheum Experience, in his secondhand cosplay outfit, is . . . different. Swaggering, flirtatious, confident. Unlucky in romance himself and inspired by Jennifer’s love for the swoonworthy men of Elytheum, Scott is determined to remake himself into the perfect book boyfriend. Jennifer has no interest in helping the man who vexes her every workday and dismisses her fictional fantasies, but as the immersive convention activities force them together, they’re surprised to discover magic like none Jennifer has ever read about. But is enemies-to-lovers romance only for books, or can Jennifer and Scott bring the trope to life?

he’s out for adventure. He’s out for blood. Tess Rosenbloom is no stranger to the dark. An assault survivor and grad school dropout, Tess spends her nights managing a chic Brooklyn hotel and her days reading her favorite vampire novels, Blood Feud. She even dabbles in online conspiracies claiming Blood Feud is real—it’s fun to hunt for clues! But deep down, Tess doesn’t believe vampires actually exist . . . until one walks through her door. It turns out the sexy villain of Blood Feud is trapped, and only Tess can rescue him. Eager to escape her life, Tess agrees to help, and soon she’s on a secret island where the sun never shines, surrounded by deadly vampires—and most terrifying of all, she's falling in love with one of them. (Meanwhile, back in New York, Tess’s estranged best friend is having a sapphic paranormal affair of her own.)

“In the year 1936 a writer planted roses.” So begins Rebecca Solnit’s new book, a reflection on George Orwell’s passionate gardening and the way that his involvement with plants, particularly flowers, and the natural world illuminates his other commitments as a writer and antifascist, and the intertwined politics of nature and power. Sparked by her unexpected encounter with the surviving roses he planted in 1936, Solnit’s account of this understudied aspect of Orwell’s life explores his writing and his actions—from going deep into the coal mines of England, fighting in the Spanish Civil War, critiquing Stalin when much of the international left still supported him (and then critiquing that left), to his analysis of the relationship between lies and authoritarianism. Through Solnit’s celebrated ability to draw unexpected connections, readers encounter the photographer Tina Modotti’s roses and her Stalinism, Stalin’s obsession with forcing lemons to grow in impossibly cold conditions, Orwell’s slave-owning ancestors in Jamaica, Jamaica Kincaid’s critique of colonialism and imperialism in the flower garden, and the brutal rose industry in Colombia that supplies the American market. The book draws to a close with a rereading of Nineteen Eighty-Four that completes her portrait of a more hopeful Orwell, as well as a reflection on pleasure, beauty, and joy as acts of resistance.

Everybody has regrets, Daniel H. Pink explains in The Power of Regret. They’re a universal and healthy part of being human. And understanding how regret works can help us make smarter decisions, perform better at work and school, and bring greater meaning to our lives.   Drawing on research in social psychology, neuroscience, and biology, Pink debunks the myth of the “no regrets” philosophy of life. And using the largest sampling of American attitudes about regret ever conducted as well as his own World Regret Survey—which has collected regrets from more than 15,000 people in 105 countries—he lays out the four core regrets that each of us has. These deep regrets offer compelling insights into how we live and how we can find a better path forward.   As he did in his bestsellers Drive, When, and A Whole New Mind, Pink lays out a dynamic new way of thinking about regret and frames his ideas in ways that are clear, accessible, and pragmatic. Packed with true stories of people's regrets as well as practical takeaways for reimagining regret as a positive force, The Power of Regret shows how we can live richer, more engaged lives.