Baytown Library
  • New Books
  • Staff Picks
  • Teen
  • Kids
  • Home
  • Urban Fiction
  • General Fiction
  • Inspirational
  • Romance
  • SciFi & Fantasy
  • Mysteries
    Cozy & Historical Thrillers
  • Large Print
    Fiction Inspirational Mystery Romance
  • Non-Fiction
    Biography & History Health & Beauty Hobbies & Home Self Help & Parenting
active
Cruelty Free
A Novel
by Caroline Glenn
January 27, 2026
Reserve

"Deliciously vicious and unsettlingly hilarious, Cruelty Free is a nasty, thrilling Hollywood take-down for the ages." --JENNIFER THORNE, author of Diavola

A disgraced movie star returns to Hollywood 10 years after the kidnapping of her young daughter intent on seeking revenge, for fans of Monika Kim and Rachel Yoder.

NOTHING FEELS BETTER THAN REVENGE.

Ten years ago, Lila Devlin was an A-list actress with a movie star husband and a beautiful baby girl, Josie. When Josie was kidnapped out of her home and never seen again, Lila's previously pristine public image twisted into that of an Unfit Mother. Driven mad...

How to Survive in the Woods
A Novel
by Kat Rosenfield
November 11, 2025
Reserve

Wild meets The Wife Between Us in this page-turning thriller, set in Maine's Hundred Mile Wilderness--the treacherous final stretch of the storied Appalachian Trail--an addictive tale of passion, betrayal, control, and what it means to survive.

Raised by a doomsday prepper and hardened by the startup world, Emma Sharp has learned how to endure--especially in her marriage to Logan Grant, a charismatic tyrant who keeps her under tight control. To Emma, her marriage is a cage: it keeps you in, but it also keeps you safe. Until it doesn't.

When Emma forms an unexpected bond with Logan's former girlfriend,...

Cross and Sampson
An Alex Cross and John Sampson Thriller
by James Patterson,Brian Sitts
November 11, 2025
Reserve

Detectives Alex Cross and John Sampson are better together--until they're called to separate locations to investigate a pair of serious crimes.



In Washington, DC...

Metro PD detective John Sampson stands in a crater in the middle of a DC street, calling in the bomb squad. "Dispatch, this is Sampson. Contact the FBI and the ATF. We've got a suspected terrorist attack here."

In Chapel Hill, NC...

Alex Cross searches the apartment of a missing psychology grad student--his own son Damon. Has following in his famous father's footsteps made Damon a target?

From FBI headquarters, in...

Paper Cut
A Novel
by Rachel Taff
January 23, 2026
Reserve

"Darkly addictive with a blistering pace and puzzle-box structure" --Katy Hays, New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters

A page-turning suspense debut about a woman infamous for escaping a cult as a teenager, who finds her future threatened when dangerous secrets come back to haunt her--perfect for fans of Jessica Knoll and The Girls.

Everybody knows the story. Nobody knows the truth...

Lucy Golden is a true-crime icon, infamous for the murder she committed while escaping a California cult twenty years ago. But as everyone in Los Angeles knows, fame is fleeting, and Lucy and her story are always...

Sorry for Your Loss
A Novel
by Georgia McVeigh
March 03, 2026
Reserve

The story of two people, both as magnetic as they are dangerous, who get caught in an electric game of cat and mouse

The question is, Who is the predator and who is the prey?

Meet Iris: a dark soul with a propensity for obsession, still reeling from a recent loss, who relies on a local grief group to keep her grounded and out of trouble. And now meet Jack: a cagey widower who shows up at a meeting one night and jolts both of them back to life.

From the moment Jack first takes a shabby plastic chair in the circle, he...

Previous Next
  • Home
  • African American Experience
  • Best. Books. Ever.
  • Classics
  • Fantasy
  • Feel Good Stories
  • Great Graphic Novels
  • Horror Novels
  • Long But Worth It
  • Mysteries
    Action Series Books With a Twist Cozy Series Detective Series Historical Series Psychological Thrillers
  • Nonfiction
    Books for a Better You Memoirs Narrative Nonfiction Spectacular Science
  • Romance
    Contemporary Historical Paranormal Suspense
  • Weird Fiction
active
Final Empire
Mistborn #1
by Brandon Sanderson
June 25, 2020
Reserve

For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader,...

A Darker Shade of Magic
A Novel
by V. E. Schwab
June 25, 2020
Reserve

Kell is one of the last Antari, magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. 

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
June 25, 2020
Reserve

Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who’s always taken orders quietly, but lately she’s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She’s full of ambition, but without a husband, she’s considered a failure.

Together,...

The Graveyard Book (Children)
by Neil Gaiman
June 25, 2020
Reserve

It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and...

Once Upon a River
A Novel
by Diane Setterfield
June 25, 2020
Reserve

On a dark midwinter night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place.

Previous Next
  • Home
  • New Fiction
  • Best Fiction
active
A Prince Among Pirates
by Katie Abdou
February 16, 2026
Reserve

A charming nobleman accidentally joins a pirate ship and falls for its debonair captain in this swashbuckling queer debut that’s perfect for fans of F.T. Lukens and Our Flag Means Death.

Kit Davenport is in trouble—not that this would surprise anyone who knows him. Headstrong, reckless, and utterly unsuited for the stodgy House of Lords, Kit has spent years dodging his father’s stern disapproval and delighting in clandestine rendezvous. But time is running out. With an arranged marriage looming and the confines of white wigs and stiff decorum closing in, Kit is desperate to escape a life that feels completely wrong...

The Secret World of Briar Rose
by Cindy Pham
March 23, 2026
Reserve

A lush and immersive queer “Sleeping Beauty” retelling about escapism, grief, and dreaming of a better world, as imagined by YouTube star Cindy Pham.

The deluxe first edition features:
• A classic fairytale inspired embossed jacket
• Custom designed colored edges
• Gorgeous illustrated endpapers
• A gold foil stamped case

One hundred years have passed since the last heir of Gyldan fell into eternal slumber and doomed the once-mighty kingdom to poverty and invasion. At least, that’s what the fairy tales claim.

Corin is a jaded thief who doesn’t believe in fables, even when she searches Gyldan’s underground tunnels to find her younger sister, Elly,...

One Word, Six Letters
by Adib Khorram
January 16, 2026
Reserve

Two teen boys grapple with identity and accountability and set off a ripple effect within their community after a school assembly is disrupted by a shouted slur.

★"[A] searing, deeply felt dual-POV novel," —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Freshmen Dayton and Farshid couldn’t be more different—or so it seems.

When Dayton takes a dare and shouts the f-slur at a visiting author during a school event, it sets off a chain reaction that forces both boys to face parts of themselves they’d rather ignore.

Dayton, grappling with the fallout of his actions, faces rejection from his friends, disappointment from his parents, and a growing awareness...

The Swan's Daughter
A Possibly Doomed Love Story
by Roshani Chokshi
January 16, 2026
Reserve

In this lush and enchanting novel from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi, a prince is only as good as his beating heart and a maiden is only as good as her honest word. But when love and the truth become impossibly tangled, the two must figure out how to survive together, or fall completely apart.

To find love is a curse ...

Prince Arris knows that marriage means murder. Thanks to a poorly worded wish to a sea witch, all one needs to rule the Isle of Malys is the heart and hand of the kingdom’s heir. Historically, this...

Holloway
by Elana K. Arnold
March 23, 2026
Reserve

"Elana K. Arnold paints prose like a master. A fascinating journey through time, love, and forgiveness." - A.S. King, Printz Award-winning author of Dig

Award-winning author Elana K. Arnold returns with a boldly visionary, deeply felt story that crosses space and time to examine loss and love in a world on the brink.

It is the late summer of 2021, and a girl named Nora is on the Paris Metro.
Nora, whose mother loved her, even though Nora was broken.
Nora, who couldn't help her mother when her mother needed her most.
Nora, from whom the pandemic has taken...

Previous Next
  • Home
  • New Picture Books
  • New Chapter Books
  • African American Picture Books
  • Best Chapter Books
  • Best Mysteries
  • Best Picture Books
  • Novels in Verse
active
Bear for a Day
by Corey R. Tabor
March 10, 2026
Reserve

Assignment: Imagine yourself as a bear for the day. What would you do? Caldecott Honor and three-time Geisel Award-winning author and illustrator Corey R. Tabor offers an inspiring--and surprising--answer in this funny picture book for fans of Mo Willems, David Shannon, and Peter Brown.

If you were a bear for a day, what would you do? Probably wake up, eat breakfast, go for a motorcycle ride, and rescue your best friend from a rogue hot air balloon. . . . You know, normal bear stuff!

You certainly wouldn't stand in front of the whole class and give a boring, detailed,...

The Case of Old MacDonald and His Farm
by Mark Teague
February 04, 2026
Reserve

From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author-illustrator Mark Teague comes a hilarious whodunit picture book about something suspicious afoot on Old MacDonald’s farm!

Something mysterious—and silly!—is up at Old MacDonald’s farm. Thank goodness Officer Busby is on the case, because, as she says, “Whoever did this knew their business.” Silly business, that is. What could possibly be going on? Well, it’s April 1st. And everyone knows what that means…

Pay Attention to Me!
by Kate McKean
March 19, 2026
Reserve

A hilarious debut picture book where kids will empathize with Edgar the Cat's dreams of stardom while also exploring the downsides that come with it.

Edgar deserves to be famous like all the cats he sees online. Maybe then his human, Quinn, will stop being "too busy" to play and remember to treat him like the star he was born to be.

But not all attention is the same. Will Edgar choose bright lights and red carpets or is his biggest fan right beneath his whiskers?

Moon Sailors
by Naomi Woodward
February 24, 2026
Reserve

Join in on a bedtime adventure as two siblings--and their cat--dream of the sea and the stars, and the creatures that live where the ocean meets the moon, in this beautifully illustrated story celebrating imagination.

Moonbeams light our course across a star-swept sky.

Three dreamers--two siblings, one cat--embark on a magical bedtime adventure, discovering delights of the sea, sand, and stars. In this place where the ocean meets the moon, imagination and reality mix to reveal creatures both beautiful and rare.

Explore the lunar dreamscape to find glowworms, flying fish, and moon crabs dancing with delight. Look...

I Am Not Boring
The True-Life Story of a Log
by Lena Podesta
March 19, 2026
Reserve

The funniest (and totally not boring) picture book about a log that has ever existed, full of scientific facts and delightfully silly storytelling

What’s so special about a log? It just sits there and does nothing. How boring! However, you may be surprised to learn that logs are anything but boring—they are an essential part of life in the forest. Logs provide shelter, become food, and even turn into a safe place for a new tree to grow.

Told with humor and heart, I Am Not Boring shows how an old log is not, in fact, boring at all. This endearing, goofball...

Previous Next
Copyright © Sterling Municipal Library
(281) 427-7331
asklibrary@baytown.org

Mary Wilbanks Avenue
Baytown, Texas 77520
Map