Fiction
The rom-commers
Katherine Center
FICTION Center Katherin
Fiction, Humor, Romance
"She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies-good ones! That win contests! But she's also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates-The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!-it's a break too big to pass up. Emma's younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don't meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn't want to write with anyone-much less "a failed, nobody screenwriter." Worse, the romantic comedy he's written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn't even care about the script-it's just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme. But Emma's not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter-even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they're writing breaks all Emma's rules-and comes true?"--
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
If you search the ICPL collection for this title, you'll find many adaptations of this story, from films, to audio books, and ebooks, even a comic book! Ripe for adaptation "Alexandre Dumas's novel of justice, retribution, and self-discovery" is a great adventure. Originally translated from French, "This novel tells the story of Edmond Dantes, wrongfully imprisoned for life in the supposedly impregnable sea fortress the Chateau d'If." A tale of escape, treasure, and revenge, reading this newly edited version in advance of seeing the film, will enhance your screening! -Katie
Sandwich : a novel
Catherine Newman
FICTION Newman Catherin
Fiction
While on her family's yearly escape to Cape Cod, Rocky, sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, relives the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers, coming face-to-face with her family's history and future and accepting she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.
Both affecting and funny, Catherine Newman deftly portrays how nostalgia may bring up those lovely, wistful feelings--but these can also lead to thinking about old wounds. Vacations sometimes brings up all these thoughts. -Anne M
The lost boy of Santa Chionia
Juliet Grames
FICTION Grames Juliet
Fiction, Mystery
"Calabria, 1960. Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there's no mail, either. Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don't the police come and investigate? When an old woman begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions. As an outsider, she might be the only person who can uncover the truth. Or she might be getting in over her head. As she attempts to juggle a nosy landlady, a suspiciously dashing shepherd, and a network of local families bound together by a code of silence, Francesca finds herself forced to choose between the charitable mission that brought her to Santa Chionia, and her future happiness, between truth and survival. Set in the wild heart of Calabria, a land of sheer cliff faces, ancient tradition, dazzling sunlight--and one of the world's most ruthless criminal syndicates--The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a suspenseful puzzle mystery, a captivating romance, and an affecting portrait of a young woman in search of a meaningful life"--
There are many things I really loved about this book--the early-60s time period, the remote location in the mountains of southern Italy, the insular community the protagonist finds herself in, and of course, the missing people that she tries to track down. Author Juliet Grames takes her time telling the story, giving the reader succinct and vivid descriptions of the place and the people, and her writing feels fresh--nothing gets glossed over, nothing feels improbable, and it's all interesting. -Candice
The wedding people : a novel
Alison Espach
FICTION Espach Alison
Fiction
"It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she's actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn't here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she's dreamed of coming for years--she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she's here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan--which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can't stop confiding in each other. In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach's The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined--and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us."--
I loved this book. It is so sweet, and endearing, and funny, and relatable. I have talked about this book to anyone who will listen to me. The premise is sad and serious. But it is what comes next that’s the gift—to Phoebe Stone, our heroine, to the other characters she builds relationships with, and to us the reader. Espach has a fantastic way of showing absurdity and awkwardness, but the laughter at these situations is meant to grow connections to the characters. [In this book, Phoebe experiences suicidal thoughts and she learns that she isn't alone in grief. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, help is available by calling or texting 988.] -Anne M
The Sicilian inheritance : a novel
Jo Piazza
FICTION Piazza Jo
Adventure, Fiction
"Sara Marsala barely knows who she is anymore after the failure of her business and marriage. On top of that, her beloved great-aunt Rosie passes away, leaving Sara bereft with grief. But Aunt Rosie's death also opens an escape from her life and a window into the past by way of a plane ticket to Sicily, a deed to a possibly valuable plot of land, and a bombshell family secret. Rosie believes Sara's great-grandmother Serafina, the family matriarch who was left behind while her husband worked in America, didn't die of illness as family lore has it . . . she was murdered. Thus begins a twist-filled adventure that takes Sara all over the picturesque Italian countryside as she races to solve a mystery and prove her birthright. Flashing back to the past, we meet Serafina, a feisty and headstrong young woman in the early 1900s thrust into motherhood in her teens, who fought for a better life not just for herself but for all the women of her small village. Unsurprisingly it isn't long before a woman challenging the status quo finds herself in danger. As Sara discovers more about Serafina she also realizes she is coming head-to-head with the same menacing forces that took down her great-grandmother. At once an immersive multigenerational mystery and an ode to the undaunted heroism of everyday women, The Sicilian Inheritance is an atmospheric, page-turning delight"--
After inheriting some land in Sicily from her great aunt, Sara Marsala travels to the island to get the land sold—money she really needs after the closure of her business and a devastating divorce. This is just a real estate transaction, but of course, it isn’t. For one, it’s Sicily, not Pennsylvania—the laws are different. And there are dangerous people in the village that don’t recognize her ownership. And there is the rich history of the land, how her Aunt Ruthie—and her great-grandmother came into the parcel in the first place. Sara Marsala is now on an adventure. The Sicilian Inheritance is one of those books that keeps you hooked to find out what happens next. -Anne M
Gods of jade and shadow : a novel
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
SCIENCE FICTION Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Diverse Characters, Fiction, Fantasy
"The Mayan God of Death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore"--
Came for the fantasy adventure, tripped and broke my heart on the romance. -Chelsea
Station eleven : a novel
Emily St. John Mandel
FICTION Mandel Emily
Fiction
"An audacious, darkly glittering novel about art, fame, and ambition set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, from the author of three highly acclaimed previous novels. One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it"--
I love how much hope there is in Station Eleven. I found it really refreshing to see such optimism in a post-apocalyptic novel. This is a book about finding meaning in life despite the inevitability of death. -Chelsea
The Familiar
Leigh Bardugo
SCIENCE FICTION Bardugo Leigh
Fiction, Fantasy
"In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen--and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor. Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive--even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both"--
A beautiful and bittersweet historical fantasy set during the Spanish inquisition that explores the consequences of desire. Bardugo uses diasporic languages, such as Ladino, to form the basis of her magic system, adding both tension and lyriscism to the narrative. The Familiar is good in print, but it really shines as an audiobook, where the magic words can come to life. -Chelsea
A happier life : a novel
Kristy Woodson Harvey
FICTION Harvey Kristy
Fiction
"A young woman discovers the love and family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer at her grandparents' old house in North Carolina"--
Kristy Harvey's books are always sugary--like a Southern ice tea. If you want a book to end all wrapped up with a nice bow where everyone finds love, happiness, and their problems resolved, you can't go wrong with this book or with any Harvey's others. This one takes on family histories revolving around a centuries-old family beach house on the coast of North Carolina. The house has been shut up for decades after the tragic deaths of Keaton's grandparents--a tragedy that stung so hard, no one can bare to face the house and its contents. Keaton arrives to get the house ready to sell on behalf of her mother and uncle--it's time to let go. Of course it isn't time to let go, not when Keaton finds journals from her grandparents and meets with her grandmother's friends, uncovering their lives and what they meant to the community. And it becomes harder to let the house go up for sale when she's sort of following for the neighbor... I really loved the description of the rooms stuck in the mid-1970's. -Anne M
This is the second Katherine Center book I've read, and I think I like this one even more. While her first book was all about learning new wilderness skills and unpacking her emotional "backpack," The Rom-Commers took another forced situation trope and wrote a script with it. Emma is a fish-out-of-water kind of protagonist, having been plucked from her town and flown to L.A. to write with someone way more famous than her. Sound familiar? If you've read Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy, which pairs a writer and musician and is also hysterically funny at times, you'll hear echoes of the plot setup and Hollywood setting. I feel like I laughed a bit more at Rom-Commers. Katherine Center is one of those romance writers that has mass appeal. Give me a good story, great characters, and a happy ending, and I'll fall in book-love. -Melody