Star stricken

A pair of new memoirs delve into the dark side of fame. Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Kid Cudi writes about his struggles with addiction and depression in Cudi, #4 on our hardcover nonfiction list. Two notches below, with Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything, dancer and former Disney star Alyson Stoner joins a recent spate of media on the perils of childhood celebrity, including Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died.

Hidden Costs

The #8 title on our hardcover nonfiction list is The Fort Bragg Cartel by Seth Harp. “In this unsettling debut investigation, journalist and Iraq War veteran Harp delivers a blistering exposé of criminality within the U.S. Army’s Special Forces,” according to our review. Focusing on Fort Bragg, N.C., home to Delta Force and other elite military units, and drawing on extensive interviews and documentation, “Harp alleges that soldiers returning to Fort Bragg from Afghanistan smuggled opioids and other narcotics into the U.S., sometimes in collaboration with Mexican cartels, and engaged in reckless, often violent behavior on the base—much of it fueled by substance abuse—that the military swept under the rug.”

Three’s company

Brigid Kemmerer’s breakthrough came with the 2019 release of A Curse So Dark and Lonely, a “Beauty and the Beast” YA fantasy retelling that launched her popular Cursebreakers series. Other novels for teens followed, and now, with Warrior Princess Assassin, Kemmerer joins the ranks of YA authors making their adult debuts. The book, which lands at #13 on our hardcover fiction lists and kicks off the Braided Fate trilogy, is a “wickedly perceptive and highly charged triad fantasy romance,” per our starred review, with a plot driven by deadly rivalries, a marriage of convenience, and magic. The warrior, the princess, and the assassin take turns narrating the tale, “helping to build the slow-burning erotic tension among the trio before a truly spicy finale.”

Wicked Hot

L.J. Shen, known for “angsty, dark books and barely redeemable alpha heroes,” according to her bio, lands at #7 on our trade paperback list with Handsome Devil. It’s the third installment in her Forbidden Love series, which began modestly with 2024’s Truly Madly Deeply, now her bestselling title to date.