Ever wonder why doctors always say that exercise is the best medicine? In his new book, Dr. Jordan Metzl explains why exercise, and high intensity interval training (HIIT) in particular, is just what the doctor ordered. While Dr. Jordan Metzl’s Workout Prescription (Rodale Books) includes 10-, 20- and 30-minute HIIT workouts to get you moving at home, he also spends pages discussing things like motivation, focusing on the bigger picture (it’s not just about looking good in a bikini, you know), and how to identify and treat the injuries that are ailing or will ail you. Strength-training at the gym has always intimidated me, and HIIT was something that never appealed to me (read: scared me like CrossFit does). However, Dr. Metzl is able to break down the workouts to fit any time frame and fitness level, leaving you no excuses not to do it (just read the “It’s not about Weight Loss” chapter for a reality check). Metzl breaks down each workout by body section (total body, lower body and core) and time (start with 10 minutes and go from there), and because it’s a book – not a crazy-toned trainer yelling at you to keep going – the workouts are not only much more approachable but manageable and – dare I say? – fun! Whether you’re a runner training for your next big race or a couch potato looking for a place to start, Metzl’s HIIT workouts will give you the tools you need to strengthen your muscles and improve your life.

If I had to give an award to the most disturbing – yet oddly addicting – book of 2017, I’d have to give it to Amy Engel’s latest release, The Roanoke Girls (Crown Publishing). In her first venture into adult fiction, Engel hits a homerun with this “gothic suspense novel” that tells the story of the Roanoke family, a prominent and very private Kansas family. Everyone in the small, destitute town of Osage Flats envies the large Roanoke estate, but what they don’t know is that the large house is filled with horrifying secrets. Engel’s story picks up in present day, when Lane Roanoke is called back to Kansas to help search for her missing cousin, Allegra. Lane dreads her return to Roanoke, having fled the estate for Los Angeles more than a decade earlier, when she was sent to live with her grandparents after her mother’s suicide. Allegra’s disappearance is one in a long line of Roanoke women who have either died or run away (Allegra’s mother fled right after she was born), and Lane must solve the mystery of what happened to her cousin before it’s too late. The story, which weaves between the present-day search for Allegra and Lane’s lone summer at Roanoke when she was 15 years old, takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride through a dark family history and the one devastating family secret that threatens to swallow Lane whole, but hopefully not before she manages to find Allegra.

By Kimberly Dunbar