Acton, Helly. Begin Again. Avon. Apr. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9780063345348. $30. F

Acton, nominated for the Comedy Women in Print Prize for her UK debut The Shelf, gets a 75K-copy first printing for her U.S. debut, in which Frankie McKenzie dies in a freak accident involving a kebab and gets five second chances to revisit her life and see what would have happened if she made different choices.

Adams, Sara Nisha. The Twilight Garden. Morrow. Apr. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9780063025325. $30. F

After arriving with buzzy debut The Reading List, an LJ Best Book, Adams comes out with a joyful sophomore outing set in a neglected London garden shared between two neighbors who are less than neighborly. When one mysteriously receives photos of the space in its heyday, a garden détente begins, leading to friendship and much more. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Burr, Samuel. The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers. Doubleday. Apr. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9780593470091. $29. F

Orphan Clayton Stumper was raised by a group of enigmatologists. When the group’s crossword compiler extraordinaire dies, she leaves Clayton her last perplexer, which holds the key to his parentage. Full of word puzzles and marketed as a cozy and uplifting escape read, Burr’s debut has already been optioned by Disney.

Dolan, Lian. The Marriage Sabbatical. Morrow. Apr. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9780063270619. $30. F

Dolan (Lost and Found in Paris) poses a provocative what-if: Can you take a vacation from marriage? After 23 years, Nicole and Jason decide to take nine months and find out. He’s off to motorcycle across South America, and she’s headed to Santa Fe to learn jewelry design; it’s all don’t-ask-don’t tell.

Garvin, Eileen. Crow Talk. Dutton. Apr. 2024. 368p. ISBN 9780593473887. $28. F

Best seller Garvin’s debut, The Music of Bees, sparkled. She returns with a story of friendship and healing set in the Pacific Northwest where two women find refuge in an off-season enclave. One is battered by her failing academic career; the other, far from her Irish home, is trying to raise her daughter who will not speak. When an injured baby crow enters their lives, the three find something like solace.

Gramazio, Holly. The Husbands. Doubleday. Apr. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9780385550611. $29. F

Lauren’s attic somehow creates an infinite supply of husbands, each re-forming her life in multiple ways. She was a single London woman the night the husbands started; now she must navigate a multitude of men, wondering which one is right. Game designer Gramazio’s debut was picked up in a 10-way auction, with TV rights already sold and big book clubs calling.

Leavitt, Caroline. Days of Wonder. Algonquin. Apr. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9781643751283. $29. F

Best seller Leavitt meditates on maternal love. Ella fell hard for Jude, conceiving a baby before she was convicted of attempting to murder his father and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Released after serving six, Ella wants to reunite with her daughter and has few leads to do so. Locating her will mean finding other truths as well—such as what happened that fateful day.

Novak, Brenda. Tourist Season. Mira: Harlequin. Apr. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9780778305408. pap. $18.99. F

Award winner Novak, author of over 60 novels (most recently Talulah’s Back in Town), sets her newest on an island, the site of the luxurious Windsor family beach house. Ismay Chalmers, engaged to Remy Windsor, arrives at the house just as a hurricane starts to brew. Alone, preparing to weather the approaching storm, Ismay searches for supplies and discovers the hidden secrets of the family. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Piazza, Jo. The Sicilian Inheritance. Dutton. Apr. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9780593474167. $28. F

Piazza (We Are Not Like Them, a GMA Book Club pick, cowritten with Christine Pride) pens an intergenerational, dual-timeline story that blends historical fiction and mystery. Sara gets a new chance at life when she inherits land in Sicily, only to discover that her great-great-grandmother Serafina might have been murdered. Focused on both women, the story is getting buzz, with an iHeart Radio podcast in the works and blurbs from Emily Giffin, J. Courtney Sullivan, and Pam Jenoff.

Reichl, Ruth. The Paris Novel. Random. Apr. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9780812996302. $29. F

Reichl, former editor of Gourmet and author of memoirs, a cookbook, and the novel Delicious!, pens a Paris-set, food-rich story about Stella, whose mother bequeaths her a one-way ticket to the City of Light. That leads to the purchase of a vintage Dior dress, which helps her gain entry into the glittering culinary and artistic center of Paris—all of which leads Stella to find a new way of life, with plenty of food as comfort.

Robinson, Ishi. Sweetness in the Skin. Harper. Apr. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9780063334878. $30. F

Robinson’s debut, won at auction, and with a planned 75K-copy first printing, stars Pumkin Patterson, a 13-year-old baker who lives an unstable life in Kingston, Jamaica. She wants to move to France to be with her aunt, but standing in her way is a French exam, her wastrel father, her absent mother, and the funds needed for the test. She starts baking to raise the money, but when her plans go public, even more barriers are raised.

Robotham, M J. The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux. Bloomsbury. Apr. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9781035901104. $28.99. F

Ruby Devereaux is in her 90s and has seen, and done, almost all, including writing twenty-plus books and living a larger-than-her-fiction-writing life. Composing her last book, she might just lay everything on the line. Robotham is well equipped to detail the span of history the book surveys, as she writes historical fiction under the name Mandy Robotham.

Towles, Amor. Table for Two. Viking. Apr. 2024. 448p. ISBN 9780593296370. $32. F

Best seller Towles (Rules of Civility; A Gentleman in Moscow; The Lincoln Highway) turns to short stories and a novella here. The stories range across NYC, and the novella is set in LA. One of the works extends the story of Eve from Rules of Civility; note that she and yet another character from the collection will also feature in Towles’s next novel.

Zentner, Jeff. Colton Gentry’s Third Act. Grand Central. Apr. 2024. 400p. ISBN 9781538756652. $30. F

Award-winning YA author Zentner debuts for the adult market with the affirming story of a country musician who, grieving death of his best friend in a mass shotting, watches his career implode after he speaks his truth about gun violence. Washed up, he returns to his small Kentucky hometown, to second chances, third acts, and new hopes. Blurbed by Emily Henry and Jesse Q. Sutanto.