The Crazy Test

Megan Bosarge

Brother Mockingbird Publishing

Dalton Pierce doesn't believe in true love. In fact, he's created a "crazy test" to prove it—and every woman has failed. Sofia Torres doesn't have time for romance. Her career is finally taking off, and the promotion she's worked toward is within reach. When Sofia is assigned to write an article on Dalton's upscale NYC restaurant, they struggle to keep things professional. And when Dalton's friends suspect he's falling, he decides to put Sofia to the test. Could she be the one woman to finally pass?

Brooding with Stormclouds: Return to Oaxaca

Donna Lauren Gold

Culicidae Press

"What you feel at sixteen you wander through life trying to feel again.” After twenty-six years, award-winning photographer Lena Mendel returns to Oaxaca, Mexico, where at age sixteen she spent a transformational school year with six other girls. Now she’s back with two classmates from that magical time along with Lena’s adolescent son Gabriel, bent on establishing his independence from his mother’s single parenthood. As the travelers savor Oaxaca’s giant puppets, daring fireworks, and romantic serenades, an unexpected encounter unearths a long-buried secret that exposes the shadowy politics of this dazzling city, challenges Lena’s own autonomy, and changes the lives of mother and son forever. Then Gabriel seeks to remain in Oaxaca. Within the crucible of Oaxaca’s massive 2006 teachers’ strike and the brutal repression of those organizing for their rights, Lena and Gabe realize a new relation to themselves, each other, and to this troubled land.

The Gilded Edge Of Oblivion

Emma Hartley

Satin Romance

Kellen Carver is a gifted painter who lives life in the moment. Ray Hamilton is a physicist on the verge of a breakthrough in his search for a comprehensive cosmological model. His relentless pursuit is driven by one impossible question: What really happened to his mother? Their connection is immediate, but while Ray searches the universe for answers, Kellen is determined to outrun the memories she's spent years trying to escape. When a writer haunted by his own past becomes captivated by Kellen's work, all three are forced to confront grief, creativity, and the histories that define them. Blending art, physics, and an unforgettable love story, The Gilded Edge of Oblivion explores the possibility that creation itself is an act of healing, and that love may be the one force capable of connecting what the world has torn apart.

Hard as a Headstone

Richard J. Cass

Islandport Press

Former Army CID investigator Ardmore Theberge just wanted to complete his assignment—a routine land survey. But when he discovers a young woman murdered in a historic Maine graveyard—her skull crushed by blunt-force trauma—routine goes out the window. The victim, Janey Nightingale, was part of an activist group fighting to stop a bottled water company from relocating the cemetery. The authorities seem in no hurry to solve the case. But when Ardmore's friend Millicent Feathernight implores him to look into what appears to be a crime against a fellow Native American woman, he can’t say no. In the unorganized town of Platen, everyone has secrets and everyone has an agenda. When the victim's identity proves to be as false as the town's promises of cooperation, Ardmore realizes he's stumbled into something far more dangerous than a simple murder. Especially when he becomes the prime suspect.

The Last Altruist

Richard J. Cass

Islandport Press

Former Army CID investigator Ardmore Theberge returns to Portland, Maine, determined to start over after a violent incident ends his military career. His plan is simple: build a quiet business drawing hand-crafted maps, and stay out of trouble. But trouble finds him anyway. When a powerful real estate developer is murdered inside a small stationery shop owned by Ardmore’s new friend Rebekah Horvath, suspicion falls on her developmentally disabled son, Robbie. Before Ardmore can prove the boy’s innocence, Robbie vanishes—turning a local tragedy into something far more dangerous. (This is a paperback reissue as part of Islandport Press's acquisition and repackaging of The Ardmore Theberge series).

Daughters of Stone and Tide: Loss and Resilience in a Fisherman's Family

Maria "Mia" Millefoglie

Bright Leaf

Daughters of Stone and Tide traces one Sicilian American family's journey across generations, oceans, and inherited silence. Adopted as an infant by Sicilian immigrants, Maria "Mia" grows up in Gloucester's working-class fishing community, where bloodlines define identity, tradition shapes destiny, and belonging must be earned. Defying expectations, she leaves, only to return decades later to uncover the stories of the family she inherited. Her search reaches back to nineteenth-century Sicily, where her great-grandfather was abandoned on the wheel of the castoffs. From castoff to stowaway, he carried the Millefoglie name across the Atlantic, launching three generations into lives ruled by perilous seas, sunken vessels, and hard-won livelihoods. The women held fast on shore. Both intimate and historical, Daughters of Stone and Tide is a meditation on identity, abandonment, and belonging: a fisherman's daughter's search to understand the forces that bind and break a family across generations and seas.

Deep Waters: A Memoir of Childhood, Betrayal, & Becoming Whole

Nancy E. Randolph

High Point Books

In Deep Waters: A Memoir of Childhood, Betrayal, & Becoming Whole, Nancy E. Randolph traces her journey from a childhood marked by poverty and deprivation to a hard-won sense of wholeness. Growing up without basic necessities or emotional safety, Randolph endured profound betrayal and trauma within her own family, suffering physical, sexual, and emotional abuse that left lasting scars. Seeking escape and structure, she served as a Navy veteran during the Vietnam Era—a formative experience that fostered resilience and purpose. Randolph’s path to healing unfolds through the solace of nature, the empowering force of education, and the steadfast support of mentors like Aunt Elaine and Sandy. With the embrace of community, therapy, and the courage to tell her story, she gradually reclaims her sense of self. Deep Waters is a moving reflection on survival, the enduring impact of trauma, and the possibility of becoming whole.

What Kind Of Mother: A Reckoning

Judy Sandler

West Virginia University Press

What Kind of Mother: A Reckoning is a mother's memoir that reckons with her son's decent into severe mental illness. What appears to be substance use disorder in high school later becomes a dual diagnosis as bipolar disorder emerges. Her son grows disillusioned with prescribed pharmaceuticals and participates in a residential treatment program that assists people in forgoing medication altogether. However, the program ultimately ejects him from the community for the very behaviors that the medication once managed. The book chronicles Sandler's initial denial of her truth, her painful awakening to mental illness in her family, and her eventual acceptance that she cannot save her son—only he can save himself.

Landscape With Rocks, Sky, Nails

Judy Kabur

Fernwood Press

Set in the heart of Maine, Judy Kaber's poems build a house from close observation of the world. In this book, you'll find much of the natural world—turtles, chickens, flowers, rocks—but also the human world with its strengths and weaknesses and its close relationship to this wild ecosphere. Filled with original language and astute detail, the poems become a way of seeing, a place of both shelter and challenge. Kaber's flawless ear for language invites us into a landscape of both sorrow and beauty, a place where we can honor our humanity as well as the wildness of nature, and find a reliable path through our turbulent times.

The Chronicles of a Guinea Pig 2: Cundy's Harbor

Kayla James

Maine Authors Publishing

Riffraft and Fluffernutter are back, and their biggest adventure yet is about to set sail! In Chronicles of a Guinea Pig 2: Cundy’s Harbor, the daring brothers sneak into Neil’s backpack for a seaside trip, expecting endless clovers. Instead, they find wobbly decks, snapping claws, salty sea air. . .and their ever-persistent feline nemesis, Felicia. When fears of being left behind resurface, the brothers discover that bravery and home begin with sticking together.