Month: June 2022

New This Week

June 28, 2022

This week brings us a fun and frothy romance inspired by the real-life love story of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. It’s a spicy and heartfelt love story that’s arriving just in time for summer reading, whether it’s poolside, in a shady hammock, or just camped out in front of the air conditioning.

American Royalty by Tracey Livesay

Prince Jameson may be a royal, but he’s also a professor who’d rather avoid the trappings of the monarchy. When the Queen demands that he assist with a tribute concert for his father, Jameson just wants to get it over with and takes the advice of a student, inviting rising hip hop star Danielle “Duchess” Nelson. Sparks fly, but it’s a definite case of opposites attract between this prince and his musical Duchess.

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New This Week

June 21, 2022

This week we have two picks that haven’t gathered the holds like we think they deserve. The first is the launch of an epic fantasy series by an author who always brings something fresh to the table. The second is a romantic comedy (perfect for vacation reading) that offers some depth in addition to the light and swoony romance. Pick your favorite and jump the line while you can!

In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan

The author of the acclaimed Powder Mage series of flintlock fantasies is back with a brand new series starter. Demir Grappo fled a life of wealth and power to live as an exile. When his mother is murdered he returns to his old life, only to discover that godglass, the substance that powers all of civilization, is running out. Epic fantasy fans will want to take note.

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Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho

Fans of romantic comedies with some unexpected depth may have found themselves enjoying Lauren Ho’s first book, Last Tang Standing. Her latest builds on that reputation with the story of a woman who is tired of waiting for Mr. Right to build the family she wants. Instead, she joins a platonic co-parenting site and finds the perfect co-parent. Together (but not together), they’ll move to Singapore to raise a family while also navigating the complexities of their relationship, their families’ disapproval, and a thoroughly modern parenting scheme in a world that values tradition.

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An Introvert’s Oasis (Read a locked room mystery)

Read a mystery that focuses on an impossible crime committed in a locked room. Not even the introvert’s favorite place is safe!

One by One by Ruth Ware

Our contemporary Agatha Christie offers up her version of And Then There Were None when 11 people are stranded in a ritzy ski chalet and begin dying one by one.

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Lives unravel amid the revelry on an eerie and remote island as family and friends assemble for a glam wedding in an updated Murder on the Orient Express. Each of the principal characters has a reason to want one of their number dead.

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The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden Bishop must solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle in order to escape the curse in a world filled with enemies where nothing and no one are quite what they seem.

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Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

On a three-day journey through the snowbound Balkan hills, Hercule Poirot must weed through an array of international suspects to find the passenger who murdered a gangster on the Orient Express.

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They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall

For fans of thrilling contemporary suspense like The Woman in Cabin 10, Rachel Howzell Hall’s brilliant stand-alone novel modernizes and pays homage to Agatha’s Christie’s And Then There Were None, bringing a diverse cast of seven sinners to a private island for a reckoning that will leave you breathless.

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Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty

When journalist Lily Bigelow is found dead in the courtyard of Carrickfergus castle, it looks like a suicide. Yet there are just a few things that bother Detective Sean Duffy enough to keep the case file open.

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Malice by Keigo Higashino

Acclaimed bestselling novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on the night before he’s planning to leave Japan and relocate to Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock solid alibis. Or so it seems.

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The Branson Beauty by Claire Booth

The crash of the old paddleboat The Branson Beauty during a wintry luncheon cruise is a big enough problem for new sheriff Hank Worth. The pilot is found virtually catatonic in the wheelhouse, and there are dozens of aged passengers to rescue. But those are the least of his worries after he discovers high school track star Mandy Bryson’s body locked inside the Captain’s private dining room.

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Schemers by Bill Pronzini

A locked room mystery that goes from stolen books to stolen lives. The hunt for a phantom stalker with a penchant for pouring acid to make his point give Nameless and his partner Jake more than enough work to earn their fees. As long as neither turns his back at the wrong moment.

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Death in the Family by Tessa Wegert

As a nor’easter rears up against New York State’s Thousand Islands region, NYPD Detective Shana Merchant and her new partner, Tim Wellington, respond to a missing-persons report from a private island. This locked-room thriller has all of the requisite tangled motives and deductive crime-solving, along with a riveting introduction to edgy survivor Shana and Tim, her steady, easygoing foil.

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Fantastic Females (Read a book with an inspiring female character)

These are stories about women who demonstrates courage, perseverance, and independence. These women trust their instincts, follow their dreams, and shape their destiny, discovering themselves and their place in the world.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Flora dies on All Souls’ Day, but she simply won’t leave the store. Tookie, who has landed a job selling books after years of incarceration that she survived by reading “with murderous attention,” must solve the mystery of this haunting while at the same time trying to understand all that occurs in Minneapolis during a year of grief, astonishment, isolation, and furious reckoning.

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The French Gift by Kirsty Manning

The little-known true story of the women who were enslaved by German forces in WWII. A forgotten manuscript that threatens to unravel the past. This historical novel about murder, secrets, and is a tender and heartbreaking story of female friendship, sacrifice and loss, and the promise of new love.

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Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

The unforgettable story of a daredevil female aviator’s lifelong love affair with flight. At the age of fourteen she drops out of school and finds an unexpected and dangerous patron in a wealthy patron who provides a plane and subsidizes her lessons, an arrangement that will haunt her for the rest of her life, even as it allows her to fulfill her destiny: circumnavigating the globe by flying over the North and South Poles.

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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

A story about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities.

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His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

“It’s all about the search for independence and being true to yourself and who you really are.” (Reese Witherspoon). Afi Tekple is a young seamstress in Ghana. She is smart; she is pretty; and she has been convinced by her mother to marry a man she does not know. A witty, smart, and moving debut novel about a brave young woman traversing the minefield of modern life. Afi is a delightfully spunky and relatable heroine who just may break all the rules.

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The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

Adunni is a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to get an education. Her mother has told her this is the only way to get a “louding voice”-the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing. But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it.

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The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

Imagine a rebellious, ambitious young woman named Ana, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit, raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her, until an encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything. The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman’s bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her.

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The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

A story set in two eras: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half-sister, set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest in the tumultuous era of Reconstruction in Louisiana, 1875. Louisiana, 1987: First-year teacher Benedetta Silva lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town and discovers century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

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The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

A remarkable story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female secret agents during World War II. Women who were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but never returned home, their fates a mystery. Vividly rendered and inspired by true events, a mesmerizing tale of courage, sisterhood, and the great strength of women to survive in the hardest of circumstances.

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The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Hedy Lamarr, screen star, possessed a stunning beauty and a stunning mind. Could the world handle both? Married to an Austrian arms dealer and underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich’s plans while at her husband’s side. But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage, and she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis…if anyone would listen to her.

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Favorites of BookTok (Read a book trending on TikTok)

You’ve probably heard of the latest social media platform TikTok. There are a lot of book lovers on the platform who love to share their favorite reads. Whether you’re on TikTok or not, keep up with the latest trending books with this list!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Lovers of old-timey Hollywood rejoice! In this novel an aging and reclusive Hollywood star, Evelyn Hugo, picks an unknown magazine reporter to write her life story. The character-driven storyline takes you through the difficult interview process, as the reporter creates deep ties with Hugo and exposes how the reporter and Hugo’s pasts are intertwined.

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Honey Girl by Morgan Callan Rogers

Grace Porter is a classic overachiever and earns her PhD in astronomy at twenty-eight-years-old. To celebrate she goes on a girls trip to Vegas and ends up drunk and married to a stranger, Yuki. Due to the weight of her parents expectations, struggling to find a job, and burnout, Grace decides to summer in New York with a wife she hardly knows.

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The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

In this epic historical and military fantasy, Rin, an adopted war orphan, gains admittance into the Empire’s premier military institute. Beating out her competition, she shocks all by training with an eccentric old man who encourages her innate talent for shamanism. Can she succeed in defending the Empire and control her powers?

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Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Set in the Jazz age and inspired by Mexican folklore, this novel follows Casiopea who lives in a Cinderella situation with her grandfather and cousin. She opens her grandfather’s secret chest as an act of rebellion and releases a Mayan god who sends her on a life changing journey.

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A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

This National Book Award Finalist (2015) has BookTok shouting praises and wiping away tears. This long, literary fiction novel follows four former college classmates across decades of their lives. Instead of focusing on the extraordinary, this novel focuses on the ordinary as we learn of love, loss, addiction, a brutal childhood, and above all friendship.

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Theo, a criminal psychotherapist, finagles his way into a job at a facility housing a killer who has refused to speak since she murdered her prominent photographer husband. However, attempting to treat this patient will force Theo to examine his own problems that threaten to consume him. This edgy, intricately plotted book is perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Gillian Flynn.

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It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

This contemporary romance novel will hit you straight in the feels. Lily Bloom meets a handsome doctor, Ryle. Sparks fly between them, but Lily soon recognizes that Ryle is abusive like her father was. After marrying him, despite his abuse, she runs into a former lover who begs her to leave her Ryle. Will Lily end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late?

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Miller retells the story of the Trojan War through the eyes of Patroclus, an exiled Greek prince who is taken captive by Achilles father. Achilles and Patroclus soon become friends and then lovers. Their bond holds firm, despite the disapproval of their elders, prophecies, and the wrath of the gods themselves. This book is lyrical in style and Miller beautifully describes the boys’ relationship and has vivid descriptions of battles and their aftermath.

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The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

This character-driven book centers on twins, Desiree and Stella, who grew up in Jim Crow Louisiana. After witnessing the lynching of their father, the two are trapped in their hometown until they escape to New Orleans at age 16. Stella then disappears and stays out of touch with Desiree. Fourteen years later, Desiree’s daughter finds Stella passing as a white person. After Stella and Desiree reunite, they reckon with the decisions that have shaped their lives.

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This historical fiction is set in World War II, Nazi occupied France. The book shifts focus between two characters, a blind French teenager and a German solider, as their stories progress and intertwine with one another. Both suffer horrible losses but survive with dignity amongst all the destruction.

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The Way I See It (Read a book with multiple perspectives)

There’s always more than one side to a story. Enjoy these revealing stories, told from more than one viewpoint, or pick one of your own finds.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

A psychological thriller about a woman who becomes emotionally entangled in a murder investigation because of something she witnesses on her daily commute.

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Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

“. . . A masterpiece of a tale, connecting five characters, over hundreds of years through their relationship to a single book.”

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World War Z by Max Brooks

An account of the decade-long conflict between humankind and hordes of the predatory undead is told from the perspective of dozens of survivors who describe in their own words the epic human battle for survival.

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Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher

When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah’s voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

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The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

The story of Ann Eliza Young’s crusade against polygamy intertwines with a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah.

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

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Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

In rural Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine–a pressurized oxygen chamber that claims to cure everything from autism to infertility. But when the device mysteriously explodes, killing two people, the question arises—was it an accident or murder?

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The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor

When Alice inherits an apartment in Paris from her grandmother, she begins to uncover mysteries that the elder woman took to her grave. Discovering that her grandmother had a sister is a shock but not so much as the evidence that this mysterious great-aunt Adalyn may have been a Nazi sympathizer.

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One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

“When the creator of a high school gossip app mysteriously dies in front of four high-profile students, all four become suspects. It’s up to them to solve the case”

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Myth-ing Persons (Read a novel inspired by mythology)

Get new insights into old stories by reading a novel inspired by mythology. Contemporary fiction inspired by ancient myths brings not only entertainment, but wisdom!

Circe by Madeline Miller

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man’s world.

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Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

The twelve gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse–and none too happy about it. Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning.

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Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Mayan god of death sends a young Jazz Age woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark, one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.

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The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

A chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York. Chava, a golem, and Ahmad, a jinni, become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection.

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The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris

A brilliant first-person narrative of the rise and fall of the Norse gods—retold from the point of view of the world’s ultimate trickster, Loki, the Norse god of fire and mischief.

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The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams

When a check-in desk at London’s Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the event is said to be an act of God. But which god? wonders holistic detective Dirk Gently.

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Oreo by Fran Ross

Oreo is raised by her grandparents in Philadelphia. Her deadbeat dad disappeared when she was an infant, leaving behind a mysterious note that triggers her quest to find him. What ensues is a playful, modernized parody of the classical odyssey of Theseus with a feminist twist.

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The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Drawing on material other than the Odyssey, especially for the details of Penelope’s parentage, her early life and marriage, and the scandalous rumors circulating about her, Atwood gives the telling of Penelope’s story to her and the twelve hanged maids.

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Shallow Waters by Anita Kopacz

Cast into mid-1800s America, Yemaya, a deity in the religion of Africa’s Yoruba people, must confront the greatest evils of this era while searching for the man who sacrificed his own freedom for the chance at hers.

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Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis

The story of Cupid and Psyche, told from the viewpoint of Psyche’s sister, Orual. A brilliant examination of envy, betrayal, loss, blame, grief, guilt, and conversion.

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New This Week

May 31, 2022

It’s been a cool and gloomy week, but we’ve got books to bring a little sunshine and adventure to your life! Whether you’re in the mood for a charmingly quirky novel, or a swashbuckling true story of privateers during the Revolution, we’ve got you covered with this week’s under-the-radar picks.

The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick

Fans of feel-good character stories like A Man Called Ove or novels of bookish communities like The Little Paris Bookshop won’t want to miss Phaedra Patrick’s latest. It’s a charming and uplifting story of an aspiring writer who cleans the house of her favorite novelist. When the famously reclusive author passes away, a shocked book world learns that none other than the house cleaner has been trusted to finish the final novel.

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Rebels at Sea by Eric Jay Dolin

Historian Eric Jay Dolin is tackling a bit of forgotten history by exploring the role of the scrappy, privately-owned ships and boats that pestered the legendary British Navy during the Revolutionary War. It’s the story of brave sailors who risked the terrible conditions on British prison ships in order back up their young nation’s Navy and seize enemy combatants as privateers.

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