A Bustle Best Books of Fall 2020 Selection An Amazon Best of the Month Selection A Library Journal Best Book of 2020 An Apple Books Best of the Month Selection A Best Book of Fall 2020 by NPR’s Boston Affiliate A Bookish Most Anticipated Books Selection “An adorable retelling, engaging and character-rich...this kind of mutual empowering is one of Weatherspoon’s hallmarks.” —The New York Times “Heart-melting…a perfect fit for fans of contemporary romance authors Jasmine Guillory and Alexa Martin.” —Booklist From award-winning author Rebekah Weatherspoon comes a thoroughly modern take on the timeless tale of a struggling Cinderella who finds her prince charming at the eleventh hour—and the adventure that ensues the morning after . . . Working as the personal assistant to one of Hollywood’s cruelest divas has left Amanda Queen more determined than ever to sell her screenplay and gain her independence. In the meantime, she’ll settle for a temporary escape. When her employer is felled by the flu on Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, Amanda gets her glam on, struts out the door, and parties with the glitterati. But she never expects to come face to face—and closer than close—with one of the hottest stars in the game . . . Following up his first Oscar win with a steamy after-hours romp with an enigmatic woman seems like the perfect way for actor Sam Pleasant to celebrate—until she suddenly disappears. Worse, she’s vanished with the wrong swag bag: the one containing his Oscar statue, leaving Sam even more intrigued about the beauty’s identity—and wondering if a repeat performance of their amazing night is in the stars. And when a second chance encounter happens, only a trip to Sam’s family ranch—and revealing the whole, not-always-glamorous, truth about themselves—will give them a chance to turn one magical night into forever . . . “Wonderfully inventive…Uniting a heart-stopping hero and a plus-size heroine who knows her own worth, this steamy fairy tale shines.” —Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW “One of romance’s brightest stars…[this is] a thoroughly modern Cinderella story.” —Bookpage, Starred Review “Another winner from rising star Weatherspoon.” —Library Journal, Starred Review

In the Godfather Garden is the true story of the life of Richie “the Boot” Boiardo, one of the most powerful and feared men in the New Jersey underworld. The Boot cut his teeth battling the Jewish gang lord Abner Longy Zwillman on the streets of Newark during Prohibition and endured to become one of the East Coast’s top mobsters, his reign lasting six decades. To the press and the police, this secretive Don insisted he was nothing more than a simple man who enjoyed puttering about in his beloved vegetable garden on his Livingston, New Jersey, estate. In reality, the Boot was a confidante and kingmaker of politicians, a friend of such celebrities as Joe DiMaggio and George Raft, an acquaintance of Joseph Valachi—who informed on the Boot in 1963—and a sworn enemy of J. Edgar Hoover. The Boot prospered for more than half a century, remaining an active boss until the day he died at the age of ninety-three. Although he operated in the shadow of bigger Mafia names across the Hudson River (think Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter, a cofounder of the Mafia killer squad Murder Inc. with Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro), the Boot was equally as brutal and efficient. In fact, there was a mysterious place in the gloomy woods behind his lovely garden—a furnace where many thought the Boot took certain people who were never seen again. Richard Linnett provides an intimate look inside the Boot’s once-powerful Mafia crew, based on the recollections of a grandson of the Boot himself and complemented by never-before-published family photos. Chronicled here are the Prohibition gang wars in New Jersey as well as the murder of Dutch Schultz, a Mafia conspiracy to assassinate Newark mayor Kenneth Gibson, and the mob connections to several prominent state politicians. Although the Boot never saw the 1972 release of The Godfather, he appreciated the similarities between the character of Vito Corleone and himself, so much so that he hung a sign in his beloved vegetable garden that read “The Godfather Garden.” There’s no doubt he would have relished David Chase’s admission that his muse in creating the HBO series The Sopranos was none other than “Newark’s erstwhile Boiardo crew.”

It is often said that truth is stranger than fiction, and surely no case proves that more than that of the events leading to the slow, brutal death of Maria Korp. When the Melbourne mother of two went missing on 9 February 2005, police immediately suspected her wayward husband, Joe, and his mistress, tania Herman. While Maria lay dying in the boot of her car near the Shrine of Remembrance, Korp made the fateful decision to point the finger of blame at his lover 埡nd keep his role in her actions a secret. Before long, however, the betrayed Herman decided to turn herself in,confessing to police a twisted tale of suburban swingers, predatory psychics, grand-scale deceptions, petty lies, and the outrageous manipulations of a man whose out-of-control ego and desires led him down a murderous path. Sunday Herald Sun journalist Carly Crawford followed the Maria Korp case from the beginning, and was one of the last people to have contact with Joe Korp before he committed suicide on 12 August 2005, the day of Mariaᱠfuneral. In this extraordinary, gripping account she has gathered, for the first time, all the evidence 埩ncluding statements to police by Herman and her brother, Stephen Deegan; text messages exchanged between Herman and Korp; conversations recorded by the police; Maria Korpᱠdiary entries from the months leading up to her death, and excerpts from Joe Korpᱠdiary 埡s well as depicting the drama surrounding the Public Advocateᱠdecision to allow Maria to starve to death. the bizarre death 埡nd almost as strange life 埯f Maria Korp is already one of Australiaᱠmost notorious criminal cases; the Maria Korp Case is a book you will never forget.