Check Me Out - LKLD June 2025

THE EMPEROR OF GLADNESS

By Ocean Vuong

In the struggling town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from despair by Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia, forging an unexpected bond that reshapes their lives and reveals dynamics of love, memory, and resilience on the margins of society.

THE THREE LIVES OF CATE KAY

By Kate Fagan

Cate Kay, a reclusive bestselling author, has concealed her identity for years, but when a devastating tragedy from her past resurfaces, she’s forced to confront the secrets that derailed her dreams and return to the place she’s been running from.

THE IN-BETWEEN BOOKSTORE

By Edward Underhill

When Darby, a nearly 30-year-old trans man, returns to his Illinois hometown after losing his job, he steps into his old high school bookstore and slips back in time, coming face-to-face with his pre-transition teenage self, offering him a chance to change the past and confront old wounds.

MOTHERS AND SONS

By Adam Haslett

Forty-year-old New York City asylum lawyer Peter, estranged from his mother, Ann, for years, must grapple with the shared secret that drove their lives apart in this enthralling story about family, forgiveness, and how a fleeting act of violence can change a life forever.

KILLER POTENTIAL

By Hannah Deitch

Discovering a brutal murder at her wealthy clients’ home, scholarship student Evie becomes a fugitive with a mysterious woman, embarking on a cross-country journey to clear her name and uncover the real killer amidst national media frenzy.

I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU

By Jinwoo Chong

Jack Jr. awakens from a coma to an unfamiliar world, so he returns to Korean American enclave Fort Lee, New Jersey, to work at his parents’ restaurant, spar with alcoholic brother James, connect with the male nurse who cared for him, and become an underqualified sage to his teenage nephew.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

By Paul Rudnick

A diverse cast of eccentric characters—including a tech billionaire, a flight attendant, a disgraced book editor, and a TikTok rapping Wall Street bro—collide at a lavish private island wedding, where love, chaos and self-discovery intertwine in unexpected ways.

THE GILDED CROWN

By Marianne Gordon

Gifted with the ability to raise the dead, Hellevir, after bringing the Queen’s granddaughter, Princess Sullivain, back to life, must remain by the princess’s side, but with the threat of war looming, she must trade more and more of herself to keep Sullivain alive, but Death will always take what he’s owed.