Mother's Day Collection

Born out of the fruit from our own backyard, this Cherry Hibiscus Simple Syrup mashes Niagara cherries with hibiscus flowers to bring you a fruit-forward syrup to showcase some of the best cherries in the world.

The perfect substitute for sweet vermouth, this cherry syrup is a dynamite mixer in classic cocktails. Mix with 2 oz of whisky and 3/4 oz syrup, for a perfect Manhattan every time!

12 fl oz (360ml)

A Whisky Sour Syrup with all of the flavour, but none of the egg whites, making it 100% vegan friendly! This Kvas Whisky Sour Syrup is a blend of freshly squeezed lemon juice, ginger syrup and oranges. The result is a naturally sour syrup, which combined with whisky, makes the perfect whisky sour every time!

Kvas Fine Beverage Co. creates bar-quality products that are as essential to making cocktails, as yeast is to making alcohol.

12 fl oz (360ml)

Tip: This syrup is very versatile and has a variety of uses. Try it in a margarita, mix it up with some iced tea or add it to soda water...the options are endless

In this breathtaking new novel from the #1 bestselling author of Every Summer After, a random connection sends two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects.

Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in Toronto. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t.

At thirty-two, Fern’s life doesn’t look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern’s back home, running her mother’s Muskoka lakeside resort—something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend’s the manager, and Fern doesn’t know where to begin.

She needs a plan—a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern’s going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern’s not sure she wants to know what it is. 

But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?

One of:
TODAY’s “36 new books we can’t wait to read in 2023”
Buzzfeed’s “33 Romance Books to Look Out for in 2023”
CBC’s “30 highly anticipated Canadian titles coming this year”
SheReads' “Most Anticipated Romances of 2023”

“A breathtaking tale of star-crossed lovers that gripped me from page one. Meet Me At The Lake is nostalgia, summer breeze, second chances and pure heart.”
—Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author of The Spanish Love Deception

“A perfect summery blend of sexy romance and second chances, Meet Me at the Lake is a poignant waltz between evergreen pines and poplars and heartache. I fell in love with Will and Fern over and over and over again.”
—Ashley Poston, New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics

“A completely addicting love story about the ways we find who we are and what we want amidst changing dreams and chances missed. Carley Fortune gives us another perfect summer read brimming with heart, a book to devour in a day, swept away in the nostalgia of young, sexy love. Every Summer After fans, this will not disappoint!”
—Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push

“Meet Me at the Lake is a tender, sweet story that captures the joy and sorrow of growing up. Carley Fortune's latest is a love letter to moms and daughters, as well as second chances.”
—Elissa Sussman, bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask

"Meet Me at The Lake is a beautiful, heart-tugging, love story about secrets, lies, missed connections and second chances. Set against the idyllic backdrop of a family hotel on a rural lake, this novel brims with the warmth of summertime and the feeling of home. An exquisite, emotional read.”
—Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of Stars in an Italian Sky

“Carley Fortune is the master of the love story, tapping into our most primal needs—to be valued and seen for who we really are. Meet Me At The Lake is story telling perfection.”
—Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script

“Readers experience Carley Fortune's writing with all five senses. In Meet Me At The Lake, that means you'll taste Peter's sourdough. You'll hear the sound of the trees swaying by the lake. You'll smell the gin and the watered-down tonic. You'll see Fern waiting down by the docks. And you'll feel every pulse of electricity from Will. This is a beautiful story of letting go of expectations, growing into who you're meant to become, and letting love in when you don't feel you deserve it. The perfect summer read and an excellent follow-up to Every Summer After. Carley's talent sings on every page.”
—Iman Hariri-Kia, author of A Hundred Other Girls

“THE quintessential book of summer. Nestled in the heart of Canada's cottage country, Fortune masterfully crafts yet another enthralling tale of love and second chances that will burrow itself deep into your soul long after the last page."
—Amy Lea, author of Exes and O’s

“Fortune (Every Summer After) shines in this beautiful tale of love, loss, and forgiveness. This searing story of hard-won second chances is not to be missed." 
—Publishers Weekly

“This contemporary romance is an immersive second-chance love story that will transport readers with its dual evocation settings of stunning rural Ontario and thrilling Toronto."
—Library Journal

This new edition of the wildly popular cocktail book features revised and updated texts and a bold new cover.

Sixty of the world’s coolest and most influential women are the inspiration for this refreshing and fun collection of drink recipes that are sure to bring extra zest to your cocktail shaker. 

Free the Tipple pays tribute to a brilliant range of diverse women from the 20th century to today who have made waves in entertainment, the arts, politics, fashion, literature, sports, and science, including Frida Kahlo, Rihanna, Serena Williams, Virginia Woolf, Yoko Ono, Zaha Hadid, Marlene Dietrich, Zadie Smith, and more.

Each double-page spread features a recipe crafted to reflect its namesake’s personality, style, or legacy. This ranges from The Gloria Steinem, which uses a complex liquor with a radical twist, to The Beyoncé, made, of course, with lemonade. The cocktails are simple to make, kitchen-tested, and incorporate easy-to-find ingredients. Snappy, informative biographies, illustrated with vibrant portraits, offer revealing insights into the women’s lives.

This highly original guide to delicious beverages is a perfect gift for those in your life who encourage and inspire you.

• A2 size card (4.25" x 5.5")
• Blank interior
• Printed in full-colour on high quality cover paper
• Paired with a white 100% recycled envelope 
• Shipped in a plastic sleeve for protection

WJB's Book Club Pick for August 2025!

Use code BOOKCLUB to get 20% off at checkout. 

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

WINNER 2023 BARNES & NOBLE DISCOVER PRIZE

WINNER of the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL for EXCELLENCE in FICTION

WINNER Best First Novel, Crime Writers of Canada Award

WINNER Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction

FINALIST Amazon First Novel Award

FINALIST for the Atwood-Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize

FINALIST Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Fiction

FINALIST Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award

FINALIST OLA Forest of Reading Evergreen Award

Longlisted for the First Nation Communities READ

A four-year-old girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that remains unsolved for nearly fifty years 

July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, is seen sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of a field before mysteriously vanishing. Her six-year-old brother, Joe, who was the last person to see Ruthie, is devastated by his sister’s disappearance, and her loss ripples through his life for years to come.

In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as an only child in an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, while her mother is overprotective of Norma, who is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem to be too real to be her imagination. As she grows older, Norma senses there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she pursues her family’s secret for decades.

A stunning debut novel, The Berry Pickers is a riveting story about the search for truth, the shadow of trauma, and the persistence of love across time.

Critical Praise

"The ghosts of lost children haunt generations in this lucid and assured debut." — New Yorker

“A harrowing tale of Indigenous family separation . . . [Peters] excels in writing characters for whom we can’t help rooting . . . With The Berry Pickers, Peters takes on the monumental task of giving witness to people who suffered through racist attempts of erasure like her Mi’kmaw ancestors.” — New York Times Book Review

"Peters beautifully explores loss, grief, hope, and the invisible tether that keeps families intact even when they are ripped apart. A quiet and poignant debut from a writer to watch." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A stunning debut about love, race, brutality, and the balm of forgiveness." — People magazine

“A gripping read, a mystery and a moving narrative all in one book.”  — A New York Post Best Book of the Year

"Peters skillfully manages to hold the reader’s attention from the first page to the last . . . The Berry Pickers isn’t a mystery, it’s a truth telling by characters you can reach out and touch—characters whose misfortunes, regrets, feelings, and redemption most readers will relate to." — New York Journal of Books

"The Berry Pickers offers an unforgettable exploration of grief, love, and kin." — Boston Globe

"Enthralling . . . Powerfully rendered . . . [A] cogent and heartfelt look at the ineffable pull of family ties." — Publishers Weekly

"The strength of Amanda Peters’s novel lies in its understanding of how trauma spreads through a life and a family, and its depiction of the challenges facing Indigenous people . . . [A] powerful message about truth, forgiveness and healing." — Washington Post

"The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters completely broke my heart because it highlights how a moment, a decision by one person can change the course of another person’s life. It has this deep complexity surrounding a well-intentioned woman who acted in an irrational way out of desperation and the book is basically about the impact of her choices."  — Jen Psaki, Elle

"This book is a heartbreaking tale of family and loss, deathbed regrets and revelations. It's a force as powerful as any of those."  — Good Housekeeping

"Amanda Peters delivers an un-put-down-able novel of identity, forgiveness, and insistent hope." — Christian Science Monitor

"This powerful debut novel examines the search for truth in the face of trauma and the enduring nature of family love." — Electric Literature

"Peters' debut combines narrative skill and a poignant story for a wonderful novel to which many readers will gravitate . . . Indigenous stories like this matter." — Booklist

"There is something very special about starting on a debut novel and finding you're in the grip of a precocious talent. Amanda Peters writing is fabulously compelling. Our booksellers love this book, and we are thrilled to name it our 2023 Discover Prize winner." — James Daunt, CEO Barnes & Noble

“Amanda Peters manages to take you home to the East Coast in the very best ways – through family love and personal grief and the precious accounting of minutes and memories. You cannot help but love these characters from the first chapter. They stay with you long after the last page.” — Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves

“The Berry Pickers is an intimate story about the destruction wreaked on a family when their youngest child goes missing. Peters brilliantly crafts a multi-layered tale about how one irrational act creates irrevocable harm that ripples through multiple lives, including the lives of the perpetrators. This is an emotional novel that is beautifully rendered. An amazing read from a talented new voice.”  — Michelle Good, bestselling author of Five Little Indians

“A marvelous debut. The Berry Pickers has all the passion of a first book but also the finely developed skill of a well-practiced storyteller. The Berry Pickers is a triumph.”  — Katherena Vermette, bestselling author of The Break

“The thing about picking a handful of berries is that each one is different—some are sweet, some sour, some extra juicy. The Berry Pickers is just like a handful of berries. It’s an unassuming novel filled with so much sweet, so much sour, so much juice. Reading this book, I was only ever hungry when it ended.” — Morgan Talty, award-winning author of Night of the Living Rez

“The Berry Pickers is a beautiful novel about family and about the way it makes and breaks and re-makes us again. This is a story of many border crossings, journeying away and coming back, and it contains a cast of characters you will never forget. With this book, Amanda Peters establishes herself as an essential new voice in Canadian Literature.” — Alexander MacLeod, author of Animal Person

"One family’s secret is the source of another family’s pain in this poignant debut that reads like a modern literary classic. Moving, heartbreaking, and hopeful, The Berry Pickers is a powerful tale of haunting regret, bonds that will never be broken, and unrelenting love. Amanda Peters’ skilled storytelling evokes all the sensations of summer in Maine, singing around a fire, and the horror that takes hold when a child goes missing." — Nick Medina, author of Sisters of the Lost Nation

"In 1960s Maine, Joe is troubled by the guilt of being the last person to see his little sister Ruthie before she disappeared. Nearby, Norma grows up to unhappy parents with a lot of secrets. The Berry Pickers is a profound study of the love, grief and betrayals of two families." — ’inews, The best new books to read

“The Berry Pickers is a beautifully written, immersive book with a unique, propulsive structure. Its enduring resonance inspired us to think deeply about the issue of kidnapping and family separation. The three-dimensional characters are well-drawn, revealing flaws that inspire empathy, strong family bonds, and the search for the truth that ties this story together in a deeply satisfying way.... The Berry Pickers is a deeply poignant read that we'd recommend to anyone. It's a wonderful achievement in crime fiction, marking the marvellous debut of an exciting Canadian writer. Bravo!” — Jury, Crime Writers of Canada Awards

From the bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel, a spellbinding story about two young women whose friendship is so intense it not only threatens to destroy them, it changes the course of history

Marie Antoine is the charismatic, spoiled daughter of a sugar baron. At age twelve, with her pile of blond curls and unparalleled sense of whimsy, she's the leader of all the children in the Golden Mile, the affluent strip of nineteenth-century Montreal where powerful families live. Until one day in 1873, when Sadie Arnett, dark-haired, sly and brilliant, moves to the neighbourhood.

Marie and Sadie are immediately inseparable. United by their passion and intensity, they attract and repel each other in ways that set them both on fire. Marie, with her bubbly charm, sees all the pleasure of the world, whereas Sadie's obsession with darkness is all-consuming. Soon, their childlike games take on the thrill of danger and then become deadly.

Forced to separate, the girls spend their teenage years engaging in acts of alternating innocence and depravity, until a singular event unites them once more, with devastating effects. After Marie inherits her father's sugar empire and Sadie disappears into the city's gritty underworld, the working class begins to foment a revolution. Each woman will play an unexpected role in the events that upend their city—the only question is whether they will find each other once more.

From the beloved Giller Prize-shortlisted author who writes “like a sort of demented angel with an uncanny knack for metaphor" (Toronto Star), When We Lost Our Heads is a page-turning novel that explores gender and power, sex and desire, class and status, and the terrifying strength of the human heart when it can't let someone go.