Fiction
It's a Love Story
Annabel Monaghan
OverDrive Audiobook
Fiction, Humor, Romance
“Poignant, funny, and bingeable, Annabel Monaghan writes five star reads.” —Abby Jimenez From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV actress-turned-Hollywood producer whose “fake it till you make it” mantra sets her on a crash course with her past, forcing her to spend a week on Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love. Love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth. Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as "Poor Janey Jakes," the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punch line on America's fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s trying to be taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive by embracing a new mantra: Fake it till you make it. Except she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she claimed that she could get mega popstar Jack Quinlan to write a song for the movie. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years. Now Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan as she faces down her past is Jane's idea of hell, but he just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?
The River Has Roots
Amal El-Mohtar
OverDrive Audiobook
Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQ+
"In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, the mysterious Hawthorn family tends the willow trees there. For as long as anyone can remember, the Hawthorns have paid tribute to the willow trees, honouring an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None, though, have taken up this calling more devotedly than the family's latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the trees. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favour of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters' bond but also their lives will be at risk"--
El-Mohtar's writing is every bit as lyrical as it was in "This is How You Lose the Time War." I think my only criticism of this story is that I wish there was more of it! I want to continue to explore the grammar of this world. I want to specifically recommend the audio book because this novella is full of songs and music, and the audio book performances are wonderful. -Chelsea
The salt grows heavy
Cassandra Khaw
FICTION Khaw Cassandr
Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQ+
"You may think you know how the fairytale goes: a mermaid comes to shore and weds the prince. But what the fables forget is that mermaids have teeth. And now, her daughters have devoured the kingdom and burned it to ashes. On the run, the mermaid is joined by a mysterious plague doctor with a darkness of their own. Deep in the eerie, snow-crusted forest, the pair stumble upon a village of ageless children who thirst for blood, and the three "saints" who control them. The mermaid and her doctor must embrace the cruelest parts of their true nature if they hope to survive"--
A strange and monstrous queer love story, perfect for pride month! -Chelsea
Prodigal summer
Kingsolver, Barbara.
FICTION Kingsolver, Barbara
Fiction
"From her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. She is caught off-guard by a young hunter who invades her most private spaces and confounds her self-assured, solitary life. On a farm several miles down the mountain, Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer's wife, finds herself unexpectedly marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly feuding neighbors tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities of a future neither of them expected. Over the course of one humid summer, these characters find their connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with whom they share a place." Source: Goodreads
Added by Jessica
The vegetarian : a novel
Han, Kang, 1970-
FICTION Han Kang
Fiction
"Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself." Source: Goodreads
Added by Jessica
Supper club : a novel
Lara (Writer of Treats) Williams
FICTION Williams Lara
Fiction
Almost thirty, Roberta is stuck in a mindless job and reluctant to pursue her passion for food. When she meets Stevie, a spirited and effervescent artist, their intense friendship sparks a change in Roberta, a shift in her desire for more. Together, they invent the Supper Club, a collective of women who gather to celebrate, rather than admonish, their hungers. They gather after dark and feast until they are sick; they break into private buildings and leave carnage in their wake; they embrace their changing bodies; they stop apologizing. The club is a way to explore, discover, and push the boundaries of the space they take up in the world. But as it grows both in size and rebellion, Roberta is forced to reconcile herself to the desire and vulnerabilities of the body-- and the past she has worked so hard to repress. -- adapted from jacket.
Added by Jessica
A ruse of shadows
Sherry (Sherry M.) Thomas
MYSTERY Thomas Sherry
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
"Charlotte's success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty's iron grip. Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte's prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive. But then Lord Bancroft himself turns up dead and Charlotte, more than anyone else, meets the trifecta criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. Never mind rescuing anyone else, with the law breathing down her neck, can Charlotte save herself from prosecution for murder?"--
Added by Jessica
A tempest at sea
Sherry (Sherry M.) Thomas
MYSTERY Thomas Sherry
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
"Charlotte Holmes's brilliant mind and deductive skills are pulled into a dangerous investigation at sea in this new mystery of the bestselling Lady Sherlock series. After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty's perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking to recover, and she might be able to return to a normal life. Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence, sailing from Southampton for the eastern hemisphere. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder also takes place on the ship. Instead of solving the crime, as she is accustomed to doing, Charlotte must take care not to be embroiled in this investigation, lest it become known to those who harbor ill intentions that Sherlock Holmes is still abroad and still very much alive"--
Added by Jessica
Miss Moriarty, I presume?
Sherry (Sherry M.) Thomas
MYSTERY Thomas Sherry
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
"Charlotte Holmes comes face-to-face with her enemy when Moriarty turns to her in his hour of need in the USA Today bestselling series set in Victorian England. A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes's doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth. Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to a remote community of occult practitioners where Moriarty's daughter was last seen, a place full of lies and liars. Meanwhile, Charlotte's sister Livia tries to make sense of a mysterious message from her beau, Mr. Marbleton. And Charlotte's longtime friend and ally Lord Ingram at last turns his seductive prowess on Charlotte-or is it the other way around? But the more secrets Charlotte unravels about Miss Moriarty's disappearance, the more she wonders why Moriarty has entrusted this delicate matter to her of all people. Is it merely to test Charlotte's skills as an investigator, or has the man of shadows trapped her in a nest of vipers?"--
Added by Jessica
Murder on Cold Street
Sherry (Sherry M.) Thomas
MYSTERY Thomas Sherry
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery
"Inspector Treadles, Charlotte Holmes's friend and collaborator, has been found locked in a room with two dead men, both of whom worked with his wife at the great manufacturing enterprise she has recently inherited. Rumors fly. Had Inspector Treadles killed the men because they had opposed his wife's initiatives at every turn? Had he killed in a fit of jealous rage, because he suspected Mrs. Treadles of harboring romantic feelings for one of the men? To make matters worse, he refuses to speak on his own behalf, despite the overwhelming evidence against him. Charlotte finds herself in a case strewn with lies and secrets. But which lies are to cover up small sins, and which secrets would flay open a past better left forgotten? Not to mention, how can she concentrate on these murders when Lord Ingram, her oldest friend and sometime lover, at last dangles before her the one thing she has always wanted?"--Provided by publisher.
Added by Jessica
I got to be the lucky "First Hold" on this audiobook. Two days in, and I feel like it's a whirlwind love affair between me and this story! It took a few chapters for me to get into the narration, but the slow burn love story is so engrossing that I'd love it no matter what. As usual with the books I recommend, the main characters are quite likeable. I do want propose shame plays a key role in this book as well, as so much of the main female character's life is shaped by the emotion's influence on her. There is some fun meta-romance in this book as well, like a fun enemies-to-friends argument about The Notebook and discourse about what makes a love story truly wonderful. The relationship building is paced nicely. There's no first-date-lap dance like you get in Hannah Grace's Wildfire. I'm only about halfway through the book, and there's only been thoughts of kissing rather than any action-packed lip-smacking. But the anticipation is what makes it so good! Gotta remember that for future book choices: give me yearning over instant gratification. -Melody