MyLibrarian: Carrie
I love to read and talking to others about the books they read. Generally, I will read just about all genres, with the exception of sci-fi/fantasy and anything with extreme violence. I’m always in the middle of reading at least three books at a time, including an audiobook. One of my missions as a librarian is to help people find the perfect book. Reading one really good book can end up turning you into a reader for life. I’ve seen it happen many times and, as a librarian, almost nothing could make me happier.
MyLibrarian > Carrie
Personalized Recommendations
Fill out this quick form, and I’ll pick out some books for you! I can place items on hold for you, or simply send you a list of recommendations.
Favorite Authors
Fiction
A Walk Across The Sun
Corban Addison
When a tsunami rages through their coastal town in India, 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita are left orphaned and homeless. As they struggle to reach the safe haven of the convent where they attend school, they are abducted by human traffickers and thrust into a hidden world of sexual violence and illicit commerce, where the most valuable prize is the innocence of a child. Halfway across the world, in Washington, D.C., attorney Thomas Clarke faces his own personal and professional crises. Haunted by the tragic death of his infant daughter and estranged from his wife, he makes the fateful decision to pursue a pro bono sabbatical in India with an NGO that prosecutes the subcontinent's human traffickers. In Mumbai, his conscience awakens as he sees firsthand the horrors of the sex trade and the corrupt judicial system that fosters it. When he learns the fate of Ahalya and Sita, Clarke makes it his personal mission to rescue them, setting the stage for a deadly showdown with an international network of ruthless criminals. Spanning three continents and two cultures, this story chronicles an unforgettable journey through the underworld of modern slavery and into the darkest and most resilient corners of the human heart.
A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman
A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.
When I Ran Away
Ilona Bannister
A rich, bighearted debut that takes us from working-class Staten Island in the wake of the September 11th attacks to upper crust London a decade later, revealing a story of loss, motherhood, and love found in the most impossible of places, perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes and Ann Napolitano.
Sense Of An Ending
Julian Barnes
Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they navigated the girl drought of gawky adolescence together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a marriage, a calm divorce. He gets along nicely, he thinks, with his one child, a daughter, and even with his ex-wife. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove.
Far From The Tree
Robin Benway
Three teenagers, biological siblings separated by adoption, explore the meaning of family in all its forms–how to find it, how to keep it, and how to love it.
Mary Jane
Jessica Anya Blau
Taking a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor, straight-laced Mary Jane is introduced to a world of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, which helps her figure out what she really wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.
The Choices We Make
Karma Brown
Hannah and Kate became friends in the fifth grade. While they've been close as sisters ever since, Hannah can't help but feel envious of the little family Kate and her husband, David, have created–complete with two perfect little girls. She and Ben have been trying for years to have a baby, so when they receive the news that she will likely never get pregnant, Hannah's heartbreak is overwhelming. But just as they begin to tentatively explore the other options, it's Kate's turn to do the rescuing. Not only does she offer to be Hannah's surrogate, but Kate is willing to use her own eggs to do so. Full of renewed hope, excitement and gratitude, these two families embark on an incredible journey toward parenthood…until a devastating tragedy puts everything these women have worked toward at risk of falling apart.
Recipe For A Perfect Wife
Karma Brown
A dual narrative in which a woman finds a cookbook buried in the basement of her new home and becomes captivated with the cookbook's previous owner, a 1950s housewife. Dissatisfied with her own life, she becomes absorbed in learning the story–and the secrets–of the last woman who lived in her house.
A Dog’s Purpose
W. Bruce Cameron
Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of 8 year old Ethan. During their countless adventures Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog. But this life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders, will he ever find his purpose?
This Close To Okay
Leesa Cross-Smith
A recently divorced therapist spots a man standing on the edge of a bridge and convinces him to join her for coffee instead of jumping and the pair spend a cathartic weekend sharing secrets and angsts.
The Other Mother
Matthew Dicks
Thirteen-year-old Michael Parsons is dealing with a lot. His father's sudden death; his mother's new husband, Glen, who he loathes; his two younger siblings, who he looks after more and more now that his mother works extra shifts. And then one day, Michael wakes up and his mother is gone. In her place is an exact, duplicate mother. The 'other mother'. No one else seems to notice the real version is missing. His brother, his sister, and even Glen act as if everything's normal. But Michael knows in his heart that this mother is not his. And he begins to panic. What follows is a big-hearted coming-of-age story of a boy struggling with an unusual disorder that poses unparalleled challenges-but also, as he discovers, offers him unique opportunities.
Twenty One Truths About Love
Matthew Dicks
From the beloved author of Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend comes a wonderful new novel about a struggling man, written entirely in lists. Daniel Mayrock's life is at a crossroads. He knows the following to be true: 1. He loves his wife Jill … more than anything. 2. He only regrets quitting his job and opening a bookshop a little (maybe more than a little) 3. Jill is ready to have a baby. 4. The bookshop isn't doing well. Financial crisis is imminent. Dan doesn't know how to fix it. 5. Dan hasn't told Jill about their financial trouble. 6. Then Jill gets pregnant. This heartfelt story is about the lengths one man will go to and the risks he will take to save his family. But Dan doesn't just want to save his failing bookstore and his family's finances: 1. Dan wants to do something special. 2. He's a man who is tired of feeling ordinary. 3. He's sick of feeling like a failure. 4. He doesn't want to live in the shadow of his wife's deceased first husband. Dan is also an obsessive list maker; his story unfolds entirely in his lists, which are brimming with Dan's hilarious sense of humor, unique world-view, and deeply personal thoughts. When read in full, his lists paint a picture of a man struggling to be a man, a man who has reached a point where he's willing to do anything for the love (and soon-to-be new love) of his life.
Girls With Bright Futures
Tracy Dobmeier, Wendy Katzman
Locked in competition for a single admittance into Stanford, the mothers of three prep-school students confront their worst nightmares and doubts about each other’s true characters when their daughter applicants are violently targeted.
The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell
Robert Dugoni
Born with ocular albinism, small-town eye doctor Sam Hill must finally face a past tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he'd always known–a journey that makes him realize what truly matters.
A Window Opens
Elisabeth Egan
Torn between the frenetic responsibilities of her family life and obsessive media-trend goals, Alice leaps at a professional opportunity only to be challenged by a family illness, her floundering marriage and unexpected changes at work.
This Is How It Always Is
Laurie Frankel
Claude is five years old, the youngest of five brothers. He also loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl. Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They're just not sure they're ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude's secret. Until one day it explodes.
Class Mom
Laurie Gelman
Jen Dixon is not your typical Kansas City kindergarten class mom-or mom in general. Throw in an old flame from Jen's past, a hyper-sensitive "allergy mom," a surprisingly sexy kindergarten teacher, and an impossible-to-please Real Housewife-wannabe, causing problems at every turn, and the job really becomes much more than she signed up for.
All We Ever Wanted
Emily Giffin
When her golden-boy son posts a controversial photograph of a scholarship student online, triggering a local scandal, a wife and mother finds herself sympathizing more with the girl's family than her own.
When All Is Said
Anne Griffin
If you had to pick five people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said? At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He's alone, as usual, though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story. Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories – of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice – the lif+H127e of one man will be powerful and poignantly laid bare. Beautifully heart-warming and powerfully felt, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said and done.
A Death In Live Oak
James Grippando
When the body of Jamal Cousin, president of the pre-eminent black fraternity at the Florida’s flagship university, is discovered hogtied in the Stygian water swamps of the Suwanee River Valley, the death sets off a firestorm. Jamal’s gruesome murder bears disturbing similarities to another lynching that occurred back in the Jim Crow days of 1944. Are the chilling parallels purely coincidental?
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mohsin Hamid
A young Muslim American, Changez is living the American dream, with an education at an Ivy League college, high-paying job, and romance with Erica, a member of the elite New York social circles, until the events of September 11th turn his life upside down and force him to confront his personal allegiances.
Our Souls At Night
Kent Haruf
In Holt, Colorado, widower Louis Waters is initially thrown when the widowed Addie Moore suggests that they spend time together, in bed, to stave off loneliness, but soon they are exchanging the confidences and memories.
The Cactus
Sarah Haywood
For Susan Green, messy emotions don't fit into the equation of her perfectly ordered life. She has a flat that is ideal for one, a job that suits her passion for logic and an 'interpersonal arrangement' that provides cultural and other, more intimate, benefits. But suddenly confronted with the loss of her mother and the news that she is about to become a mother herself, Susan's greatest fear is realized. She is losing control. When she learns that her mother's will inexplicably favors her indolent brother, Edward, Susan's already dismantled world is sent flying into a tailspin. As Susan's due date draws near and her family problems become increasingly difficult to ignore, Susan finds help and self-discovery in the most unlikely of places.
The Keeper Of Lost Things
Ruth Hogan
Collecting things dropped or left behind by others and writing stories about them as a tribute to the fiancée who died the day he lost one of her keepsakes, a man bequeaths his estate to his unsuspecting assistant, who bonds with new neighbors while attempting to reunite the objects with their owners.
Left: A Love Story
Mary Hogan
It started as a dream vacation in Spain, with Fay and Paul Agarra enjoying all the delights of a European holiday. A respected New York City judge, Paul has always been the man Fay can rely on no matter what. When he inexplicably disappears from a Granada street corner, Fay knows something is terribly wrong. Once they are reunited, Paul shrugs off the episode as a simple misunderstanding — but Fay suspects her almost perfect life has taken a dark and sudden turn. Soon there are more signs that Paul is beginning to change. Bouts of forgetfulness lead to mistakes in the courtroom. Simple tasks cause unexplainable outbursts of anger. Fay's worst suspicions are realized when she learns her husband — her rock, her love, her everything — is succumbing to the ravages of dementia. As her husband transforms before her very eyes, Fay copes with her fears by retreating into a fantasy life filled with promise instead of pain. In Fay's invented world, she imagines herself living a glamorous life free from heartache, with a handsome neighbor she barely knows rescuing her from a fate she can't accept.
The Gifted School
Bruce Holsinger
This deliciously sharp novel captures the relentless ambitions and fears that animate parents and their children in modern America, exploring the conflicts between achievement and potential, talent and privilege. Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School is a keenly entertaining novel that observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide in a pile-up with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who've been a part of one another's lives since their kids were born over a decade ago, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group's children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil and long-buried, explosive secrets surface and detonate. It's a humorous, keenly observed, timely take on ambitious parents, willful kids, and the pursuit of prestige, no matter the cost.
We Could Be Beautiful
Swan Huntley
Feeling empty in spite of the wealth that affords her a luxurious Manhattan apartment, designer accessories, and fine art, Catherine West pursues a relationship with the son of a family friend who her Alzheimer's patient mother only remembers negatively.
You Me Everything
Catherine Isaac
Set in the French countryside on an idyllic summer vacation, a delicious, tender novel about finding every bit of joy in life no matter what's thrown at us Sick of his lies, cheating ways, and complete lack of interest in fatherhood, Jessica left her boyfriend, Adam, only months after she gave birth to their son–and never looked back. Adam moved to France to follow his dream, unencumbered by a serious relationship and the child he never wanted. Ten years later, Susan, Jess's mother, lies in a nursing home, battling a debilitating disease. Susan forces Jess to recognize what she's always refused to acknowledge: that William needs his father in his life. So, Jess and ten-year-old William set off to spend the summer at Chau de Roussignol, deep in the rich, sunlit hills of the Dordogne, where Adam runs a beautiful hotel. There, Jess has a mission: to make Adam fall in love with his own son. By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, You Me Everything is a novel about one woman's fierce determination to grab hold of the family she has, and a romantic story about finding love even under the most unexpected circumstances.
An American Marriage
Tayari Jones
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American dream and the new South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined.
The Most Fun We Ever Had
Claire Lombardo
When Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson fall in love in the 1970s, they are blithely ignorant of all that's to come. By 2016, their four radically different daughters are each in a state of unrest: Wendy, widowed young, soothes herself with booze and younger men; Violet, a litigator-turned-stay-at-home-mom, battles anxiety and self-doubt when the darkest part of her past resurfaces; Liza, a neurotic and newly tenured professor, finds herself pregnant with a baby she's not sure she wants by a man she's not sure she loves; and Grace, the dawdling youngest daughter, begins living a lie that no one in her family even suspects. Above it all, the daughters share the lingering fear that they will never find a love quite like their parents'. As the novel moves through the tumultuous year following the arrival of Jonah Bendt–given up by one of the daughters in a closed adoption fifteen years before–we are shown the rich and varied tapestry of the Sorensons' past: years marred by adolescence, infidelity, and resentment, but also the transcendent moments of joy that make everything else worthwhile. Spanning nearly half a century, and set against the quintessential American backdrop of Chicago and its prospering suburbs, Lombardo's debut explores the triumphs and burdens of love, the fraught tethers of parenthood and sisterhood, and the baffling mixture of affection, abhorrence, resistance, and submission we feel for those closest to us.
After The End
Clare Mackintosh
Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They're best friends, lovers—unshakable. But then their son gets sick and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can't agree. They each want a different future for their son. What if they could have both?
Radius Of Us
Marie Marquardt
After being mugged, seventeen-year-old Gretchen is still struggling to deal with her fears when she meets Phoenix, an eighteen-year-old immigrant from El Salvador.
Behold The Dreamers
Imbolo Mbue
An immigrant working class couple from Cameroon and the upper class American family for whom they work find their lives and marriages shaped by financial circumstances, infidelities, secrets, and the 2008 recession.
Accidents Of Marriage
Randy Susan Meyers
Maddy is a social worker trying to balance her career and three children. Years ago, she fell in love with Ben, a public defender, drawn to his fiery passion, but now he's lashing out at her during his periodic verbal furies. She vacillates between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their kids, until the rainy day when they're together in the car and Ben's volatile temper gets the best of him, leaving Maddy in the hospital fighting for her life.
Only Child
Rhiannon Navin
Surviving a horrific school shooting, a six-year-old boy retreats into the world of books and art while making sobering observations about his mother's determination to prosecute the shooter's parents and the wider community's efforts to make sense of the tragedy.
Wonder
Palacio
When fifteen-year-old Will is rejected by battleschool, he becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious Ranger Halt, and winds up protecting the kingdom from danger.
We Are Not Like Them
Christine Pride, Jo Piazza
The lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, is severely tested when one woman’s husband, a police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager, while the other woman, a reporter, covers this career-making story.
Daisy Jones And The Six
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go-Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it's the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she's twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things. Another band getting noticed is The Six, led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she's pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend. The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies.
Such A Fun Age
Kiley Reid
Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right. But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other. With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone "family," the complicated reality of being a grown up, and the consequences of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.
How Not To Die Alone
Richard Roper
Andrew's day-to-day is a little grim, searching for next of kin for those who die alone. Thankfully, he has a loving family waiting for him when he gets home, to help wash the day's cares away. At least, that's what his coworkers believe. Andrew didn't mean for the misunderstanding to happen, yet he's become trapped in his own white lie. The fantasy of his wife and two kids has become a pleasant escape from his lonely one bedroom with only his Ella Fitzgerald records for company. But when new employee Peggy breezes into his life like a breath of fresh air, Andrew is shaken out of his routine. She doesn't notice the wall he's been safely hiding behind and their friendship promises to break it down. Andrew must choose: Does he tell the truth and start really living his life, but risk losing his friendship with Peggy? Or will he stay safe and alone, behind the façade? How Not to Die Alone is about the importance of taking a chance in those moments when we have the most to lose. Sharp and funny, warm and real, it's the kind of big-hearted story we all need.
Fangirl
Rainbow Rowell
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life–and she's really good at it.
Fox 8
George Saunders
Idealistic Fox 8's ability to communicate in "Yuman" cannot save his pack when their den and food supply are destroyed to build a mall, so he writes a letter asking for an explanation of human's cruelty.
Saint X
Alexis Schaitkin
Saint X, is a haunting portrait of grief, obsession, and the bond between two sisters never truly given the chance to know one another. Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Several days later, Alison's body is found in a remote spot on a nearby cay, and two local men-employees at the resort-are arrested. But the evidence is slim, the timeline against it, and the men are soon released. The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only the return home to broken lives. Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with Clive Richardson, one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. It is a moment that sets Claire on an obsessive pursuit of the truth-not only to find out what happened the night of Alison's death but also to answer the elusive question: Who exactly was her sister? At seven, Claire had been barely old enough to know her: a beautiful, changeable, provocative girl of eighteen at a turbulent moment of identity formation. As Claire doggedly shadows Clive, hoping to gain his trust, waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth, an unlikely attachment develops between them, two people whose lives were forever marked by the same tragedy. For readers of Emma Cline's The Girls and Lauren Groff's Fates and Furies, Saint X is a flawlessly drawn and deeply moving story that culminates in an emotionally powerful ending.
The Way I Used To Be
Amber Smith
Told in four parts—freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year—this provocative debut reveals the deep cuts of trauma. But it also demonstrates one young woman’s strength as she navigates the disappointment and unbearable pains of adolescence, of first love and first heartbreak, of friendships broken and rebuilt, and while learning to embrace a power of survival she never knew she had hidden within her heart.
Dear Martin
Nic Stone
Writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., seventeen-year-old college-bound Justyce McAllister struggles to face the reality of race relations today and how they are shaping him.
The Hate U Give
Angie Thomas
After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.
Everybody’s Son
Thrity Umrigar
The bestselling, critically acclaimed author of The Space Between Us and The World We Found deftly explores issues of race, class, privilege, and power and asks us to consider uncomfortable moral questions in this probing, ambitious, emotionally wrenching novel of two families–one black, one white.
Chemistry
Weike Wang
A young Chinese woman whose graduate studies in chemistry go off track and lead her to discover the truths about her goals and desires.
The Same Sky
Amanda Eyre Ward
A childless woman seeking to adopt crosses paths with a thirteen-year-old Honduran girl on a dangerous journey into Texas with her brother.
Loner
Teddy Wayne
A painfully overlooked, academically gifted Harvard freshman resigns himself to anonymity before falling head-over-heels for a beautiful Manhattan glamour girl who compels him to compromise his moral standards and get in touch with his true identity.
Mrs. Everything
Jennifer Weiner
A smart, thoughtful, and timely exploration of two sisters' lives from the 1950s to the present as they struggle to find their places–and be true to themselves–in a rapidly evolving world. Mrs. Everything is an ambitious, richly textured journey through history–and herstory–as these two sisters navigate a changing America over the course of their lives
That Summer
Jennifer Weiner
Daisy Shoemaker can't sleep. With a thriving cooking business, full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home in the Philadelphia suburbs, she should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful, her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. Still, Daisy knows she's got it good. So why is she up all night? While Daisy tries to identify the root of her dissatisfaction, she's also receiving misdirected emails meant for a woman named Diana Starling, whose email address is just one punctuation mark away from her own. While Daisy's driving carpools, Diana is chairing meetings. While Daisy's making dinner, Diana's making plans to reorganize corporations. Diana's glamorous, sophisticated, single-lady life is miles away from Daisy's simpler existence. When an apology leads to an invitation, the two women meet and become friends. But, as they get closer, we learn that their connection was not completely accidental. Who is this other woman, and what does she want with Daisy?
When Life Gives You Lululemons
Lauren Weisberger
Emily Charlton, the beleaguered assistant-turned-successful Hollywood image consultant, teams up with a former ace lawyer-turned-Greenwich stay-at-home mom to retain the services of an A-list model and politician's wife.
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead
1960s Florida. Kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood Curtis is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South, one mistake is enough to destroy the future. He is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in their charge can become "honorable and honest men." In reality, the sadistic staff beats and sexually abuses the students, corrupt officials and locals steal food and supplies, and any boy who resists is likely to disappear "out back." He meets Turner, who knows that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. A decision creates repercussions that will echo down the decades.
The Rent Collector
Camron Wright
Sang Ly struggles to survive by picking through garbage in Cambodia's largest municipal dump. Under threat of eviction by an embittered old drunk who is charged with collecting rents from the poor of Stung Meanchey, Sang Ly embarks on a desperate journey to save her ailing son from a life of ignorance and poverty.
White Ivy
Susie Yang
Ivy Lin is a thief and a liar–but you'd never know it by looking at her. Raised outside of Boston, she is taught how to pilfer items from yard sales and second-hand shops by her immigrant grandmother. Thieving allows Ivy to accumulate the trappings of a suburban teen–and, most importantly, to attract the attention of Gideon Speyer, the golden boy of a wealthy political family. But when Ivy's mother discovers her trespasses, punishment is swift and Ivy is sent to China, where her dream instantly evaporates. Years later, Ivy has grown into a poised yet restless young woman, haunted by her conflicting feelings about her upbringing and her family. Back in Boston, when she bumps into Sylvia Speyer, Gideon's sister, a reconnection with Gideon seems not only inevitable–it feels like fate.
Storied Life Of A.j. Fikry
Gabrielle Zevin
When his most prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, is stolen, bookstore owner A. J. Fikry begins isolating himself from his friends, family and associates before receiving a mysterious package that compels him to remake his life.
Historical Fiction
The Absolutist
John Boyne
It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War. But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will–from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.
The Heart's Invisible Furies
John Boyne
Adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple who remind him that he is not a real member of their family, Cyril embarks on a journey to find himself and where he came from, discovering his identity, a home, a country, and much more throughout a long lifetime.
Next Year In Havana
Chanel Cleeton
Marisol Ferrera returns to her grandmother's homeland to fulfill her last wish to have her ashes scattered in Havana and discovers her family history amidst Cuba's tropical beauty and dangerous political environment.
The Nightingale
Kristin Hannah
Reunited when the elder's husband is sent to fight in World War II, French sisters Vianne and Isabelle find their bond as well as their respective beliefs tested by a world that changes in horrific ways.
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
A novel about black Americans in Florida that centers on the life of Janie and her three marriages.
Atonement
Ian Mcewan
In the summer of 1935 Briony Tallis misinterprets a moment's flirtation between her sister and the son of a servant. A crime occurs soon after, the repercussions of which are followed through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the 20th century.
Fall Of Marigolds
Susan Meissner
September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries…and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she's made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her? September 2011. On Manhattan's Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers…the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn's eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?
Darktown
Thomas Mullen
The award-winning author of The Last Town on Earth delivers a riveting and elegant police procedural set in 1948 Atlanta, exploring a murder, corrupt police, and strained race relations that feels ripped from today's headlines.
The Muralist
Barbara A. Shapiro
Auction-house employee Danielle Abrams investigates the unsolved disappearance of her famous-artist great-aunt when she discovers enigmatic paintings hidden behind Abstract Expressionist works created decades earlier.
Light Between Oceans
M. L. Stedman
A novel set on a remote Australian island, where a childless couple live quietly running a lighthouse, until a boat carrying a baby washes ashore.
Before We Were Yours
Lisa Wingate
Memphis, Tennessee, 1936. The five Foss children find their lives changed forever when their parents leave them alone on the family shantyboat one stormy night.
Humor
Lessons From Lucy
The Simple Joys Of An Old, Happy Dog�
Dave Barry
Faced with the obstacles and challenges of life after middle age, Barry turned to his dog, Lucy, to learn how to live his best life. He decided to try doing the thinks she does– except for drinking from the toilet. Lucy teaches him how to live in the present, how to let go of daily grievances, and how to feel good in your own skin. And when Barry is faced with a family crisis, these lessons came just in time.
The Office
The Untold Story Of The Greatest Sitcom Of The 2000s
Andy Greene
The untold stories behind The Office, one of the most iconic television shows of the twenty-first century, told by its creators, writers, and actors.
A Very Punchable Face
Colin Jost
Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor, Colin Jost, has six sets of stitches on his face alone. He's been punched in at least four different sketches on Saturday Night Live, including once by his boss, Lorne Michaels. But if there's one trait that makes someone well suited to comedy, it's being able to take a punch-metaphorically and, occasionally, physically. From growing up as an overweight kid in a family of firefighters on Staten Island to commuting three hours a day to high school and "seeing the sights" (like watching a Russian woman throw a stroller off the back of a ferry) to attending Harvard while Facebook was created (and choosing comedy instead!), Colin shares how he has navigated the world like a "slightly smarter Forrest Gump."
Born A Crime
Stories From A South African Childhood
Trevor Noah
One of the comedy world's fastest-rising stars tells his wild coming of age story during the twilight of Apartheid in South Africa and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed.
You Can't Be Serious
Kal Penn
In this series of funny, consequential, awkward and ridiculous stories from the actor and White House aide’s idiosyncratic life, he reflects on the most exasperating and rewarding moments of his journey so far, showing that everyone can have more than one life story.
Yes Please
Amy Poehler
The actress best known for her work on "Parks and Recreation" and "Saturday Night Live" reveals personal stories and offers her humorous take on such topics as love, friendship, parenthood, and her relationship with Tina Fey.
Yearbook
Seth Rogen
Hi! I'm Seth! I was asked to describe my book, Yearbook, for the inside flap (which is a gross phrase) and for websites and shit like that, so… here it goes!!! Yearbook is a collection of true stories that I desperately hope are just funny at worst, and life-changingly amazing at best. (I understand that it's likely the former, which is a fancy "book" way of saying "the first one.") I talk about my grandparents, doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, bar mitzvahs, and Jewish summer camp, and tell way more stories about doing drugs than my mother would like. I also talk about some of my adventures in Los Angeles, and surely say things about other famous people that will create a wildly awkward conversation for me at a party one day. I hope you enjoy the book should you buy it, and if you don't enjoy it, I'm sorry. If you ever see me on the street and explain the situation, I'll do my best to make it up to you.
The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo
Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer, Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, writer, and star, mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationship, and sex, and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is.
Memoir
A Long Way Home
Saroo Brierley
Born in a poor village in India, Saroo lived hand-to-mouth in a one room hut with his mother and three siblings… until at age five, he mistakenly boarded a train by himself, and ended up in Calcutta, all the way across the country.
Tell Me More
Kelly Corrigan
A a funny, wise and insightful exploration of seven sentences adult life requires. With Kelly's signature candor and good will, each chapter draws from her sometimes ridiculous, sometimes profound struggles with parenting and marriage, career and friendship, illness, aging and mortality.
Going There
Katie Couric
In this memoir, the iconic media star discusses her professional and personal life, including losing her husband at a young age, her historic turn as anchor of the CBS Evening News, and experiences dealing with gender inequality.
From The Corner Of The Oval
Beck Dorey-Stein
A behind-the-scenes memoir by a former White House stenographer traces her unexpected job offer, participation on the elite teams that supported and traveled with President Obama and the heartbreak that blurred the lines between her personal and professional lives.
Between Two Kingdoms
Suleika Jaouad
An Emmy Award-winning writer and activist describes the harrowing years she spent in early adulthood fighting leukemia and how she learned to live again while forging connections with other survivors of profound illness and suffering.
Me
Elton John
In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, from his rollercoaster lifestyle as shown in the film Rocketman, to becoming a living legend. Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three he was performing his first gig in America, facing an astonished audience in his bright yellow dungarees, a star-spangled T-shirt, and boots with wings. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again. His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with song-writing partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation to conquering Broadway with Aida, The Lion King, and Billy Elliot the Musical. All the while Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade. In Me, Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble, and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes.
On Writing
A Memoir Of The Craft
Stephen King
Stephen King reflects on how his writing has helped him through difficult times and describes various aspects of the art of writing.
Maid
Hard Work, Low Pay, And A Mother's Will To Survive
Stephanie Land
A journalist describes the years she worked in low-paying domestic work under wealthy employers, contrasting the privileges of the upper-middle class to the realities of the overworked laborers supporting them.
From Scratch
A Memoir Of Love, Sicily, And Finding Home�
Tembi Locke
A poignant and transporting cross-cultural love story set against the lush backdrop of the Sicilian countryside, where one woman discovers the healing powers of food and family in her darkest hour. It was love at first sight when Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro's traditional Sicilian family did not approve of him marrying a black American woman, an actress no less. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forges on. They build a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopt at birth. Eventually, they reconcile with Saro's family just as he faces a formidable cancer that will consume all their dreams. From Scratch chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro's family and his origins, now she finds solace and nourishment–literally and spiritually–at her mother in law's table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro's incredible romance–an indelible love story that leaps off the pages. In Sicily, it is said that every story begins with a marriage or a death–in Tembi Locke's case, it is both. Her story is about loss, but it's really about love found. Her story is about travel, but it's really about finding a home. It is about food, but it's really about chasing flavor as an act of remembrance. From Scratch is for anyone who has dared to reach for big love, fought for what mattered most, and needed a powerful reminder that life is…delicious.
Becoming
Michelle Obama
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America, she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private. A deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations.
Bomb Shelter
Love, Time, And Other Explosives
Mary Laura Philpott
A lifelong worrier, Philpott always kept an eye out for danger, a habit that only intensified when she became a parent. But she looked on the bright side, too, believing that as long as she cared enough, she could keep her loved ones safe. Then, in the dark of one quiet, pre-dawn morning, she woke abruptly to a terrible sound—and found her teenage son unconscious on the floor. In the aftermath of a crisis that darkened her signature sunny spirit, she wondered: If this happened, what else could happen? And how do any of us keep going when we can’t know for sure what’s coming next?
Non-Fiction
Finding Chika
A Little Girl, An Earthquake, And The Making Of A Family
Mitch Albom
Bestselling author Mitch Albom returns to nonfiction for the first time in more than a decade in this poignant memoir that celebrates Chika, a young Haitian orphan whose short life would forever change his heart. Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in a landscape of extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince. With no children of their own, the forty-plus children who live, play, and go to school at the orphanage have become family to Mitch and his wife, Janine. Chika's arrival makes a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, even as a three-year-old, she delights the other kids and teachers. But at age five, Chika is suddenly diagnosed with something a doctor there says, "No one in Haiti can help you with." Mitch and Janine bring Chika to Detroit, hopeful that American medical care can soon return her to her homeland. Instead, Chika becomes a permanent part of their household, and their lives, as they embark on a two-year, around-the-world journey to find a cure. As Chika's boundless optimism and humor teach Mitch the joys of caring for a child, he learns that a relationship built on love, no matter what blows it takes, can never be lost. Told in hindsight, and through illuminating conversations with Chika herself, this is Albom at his most poignant and vulnerable. Finding Chika is a celebration of a girl, her adoptive guardians, and the incredible bond they formed–a devastatingly beautiful portrait of what it means to be a family, regardless of how it is made.
Modern Romance
Aziz Ansari
The acclaimed comedian teams up with a New York University sociologist to explore the nature of modern relationships, evaluating how technology is shaping contemporary relationships and considering the differences between courtships of the past and present.
Poetry Will Save Your Life
Jill Bialosky
An unconventional and inventive coming-of-age memoir organized around forty-three remarkable poems.
A Most Beautiful Thing
The True Story Of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team
Arshay Cooper
The moving true story of a group of young men growing up on Chicago's West side who form the first all-black high school rowing team inthe nation, and in doing so not only transform a sport, but their lives. Growing up on Chicago's Westside in the 90's, Arshay Cooper knows the harder side of life. The street corners are full of gangs, the hallways of his apartment complex are haunted byjunkies he calls "zombies" with strung out arms, clutching at him as he passes by. His mother is a recovering addict, and his three siblings all sleep in a one room apartment, a small infantry against the war zone on the street below. Arshay keeps to himself, preferring to write poetry about the girl he has a crush on, and spends his school days in the home-ec kitchen dreaming of becoming a chef. And then one day as he's walking out of school he notices a boat in the school lunchroom, and a poster that reads "Join the Crew Team". Having no idea what the sport of crew is, Arshay decides to take a chance. This decision to join is one that will forever change his life, and those of his fellow teammates. As Arshay and his teammates begin to come together to learn how to row–many never having been in water before–the sport takes them from the mean streets of Chicago, to the hallowed halls of the Ivy League. But Arshay and his teammates face adversity at every turn, from racism, gang violence, and a sport that has never seen anyone like them before.
Artcurious
Stories Of The Unexpected, Slightly Odd, And Strangely Wonderful In Art History
Jennifer Dasal
From the host of the ArtCurious podcast, this book looks at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. It demonstrates why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.
The Day The World Came To Town
Jim Defede
After thirty-eight jetliners were rerouted to Newfoundland on September 11, 2001 because the United States’ airspace was closing, the townspeople of Gander came to the aid of six thousand travelers, offering food, lodging, and other comforts.
Little Pieces Of Hope
Happy-Making Things In A Difficult World
Todd Doughty
On March 11, 2020, the day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic and all of our lives began to change in unprecedented ways, Todd Doughty knew he needed to do something to help him stay connected to the everyday joys of daily life. So he wrote down a list of things that make him happy. Many, many lists later, Little Pieces of Hope pulls together the best of Doughty's lists along with never-before-seen entries, essays, musings, prompts, quotes, and playlists that offer solace, connection, and a daily touchstone of joy in a difficult world.
Catch And Kill
Lies, Spies, And A Conspiracy To Protect Predators�
Ronan Farrow
In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family. All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance they could not explain — until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood to Washington and beyond. This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability, and silence victims of abuse. And it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement.
Maybe You Should Talk To Someone
A Therapist, Her Therapist, And Our Lives Revealed
Lori Gottlieb
From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world–where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).
The Only Plane In The Sky
An Oral History Of 9/11
Garrett M. Graff
A panoramic oral history of the September 11 attacks draws on hundreds of interviews with government officials, first responders, survivors, friends and family members to recount events from the perspectives of firsthand witnesses.
How To Be A Good Creature
A Memoir In Thirteen Animals
Sy Montgomery
A naturalist and adventurer discusses the personalities and quirks of thirteen animals who have profoundly affected her, exploring themes of learning to become empathetic, creating families, coping with loss, and the otherness and sameness of people and animals.
Radium Girls
The Dark Story Of America's Shining Women
Kate Moore
A full-length account of the struggles of hundreds of women who were exposed to dangerous levels of radium while working factory jobs during World War I describes how they were mislead by their employers and became embroiled in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights.
Breath
The New Science Of A Lost Art
James Nestor
No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how resilient your genes are, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you're not breathing properly. There is nothing more essential to our health and wellbeing than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat 25,000 times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Science journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong with our breathing and how to fix it. Why are we the only animals with chronically crooked teeth? Why didn't our ancestors snore? Nestor seeks out answers in muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He tracks down men and women exploring the science behind ancient breathing practices like Pranayama, Sudarshan Kriya, and Tummo and teams up with pulmonary tinkerers to scientifically test long-held beliefs about how we breathe. Modern research is showing us that changing the ways in which we breathe can jump-start athletic performance, halt snoring, rejuvenate internal organs, mute allergies and asthma, blunt autoimmune disease, and straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. You will never breathe the same again.
Dreamland
The True Tale Of America’s Opiate Epidemic
Sam Quinones
The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reached its peak in Purdue Pharma's campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensive–extremely addictive–miracle painkiller. Meanwhile, a massive influx of black tar heroin–cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico's west coast, independent of any drug cartel–assaulted small towns and midsize cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system.
The Red Bandanna
Tom Rinaldi
The inspirational story of the iconic September 11 hero traces his faith-based life outlook, his decision to walk away from more lucrative career interests to volunteer as a FDNY firefighter and the accounts of survivors who revealed how he sacrificed his life to save people trapped in the South Tower.
Dear Fahrenheit 451
Annie Spence
Librarian Annie Spence has crafted love letters and breakup notes to the iconic and eclectic books she has encountered over the years. From breaking up with The Giving Tree (a dysfunctional relationship book if ever there was one), to her love letter to The Time Traveler's Wife (a novel less about time travel and more about the life of a marriage, with all of its ups and downs), Spence will make you think of old favorites in a new way.
Lifelines
A Doctor's Journey In The Fight For Public Health
Leana Wen
An emergency physician and CNN medical analyst presents an insider’s account of public health and its crucial role, while sharing her inspiring journey from struggling immigrant to being on of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.
Romance
Come Away With Me
Karma Brown
One minute, 26-year-old Tegan Lawson has everything she could hope for, including an adoring husband, Gabe, and a baby on the way. The next, a patch of black ice causes a devastating accident and Tegan's life is as shattered as the car they had to cut her out of. With the loss of her baby and her unbearable anger towards Gabe, who was driving that night, Tegan is drowning in grief. After a handful of sleeping pills land her in the hospital, lucky to be alive, her family's fear and Gabe's commitment to fix things prompts Tegan to make a change. At Gabe's suggestion, she agrees to travel to three destinations from their 'life experiences' wish list. From culture-rich Thailand, to the flavors of Italy, to the ocean waves in Hawaii, Tegan and Gabe embark on a journey to escape the tragedy and to search for forgiveness. But Tegan soon learns grief follows you no matter how far away you go, and that acceptance comes when you least expect it. When things take a shocking turn in Hawaii, Tegan is forced to face the truth — and she must decide if the life she has is the one she wants.
How To Walk Away
Katherine Center
Margaret Jacobsen is just about to step into the bright future she's worked for so hard and so long: a new dream job, a fiancé she adores, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in a brief, tumultuous moment.
Things You Save In A Fire
Katherine Center
Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own. The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping…and it means risking it all—the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.
The Royal We
Heather Cocks
Unexpectedly falling for prince Nicholas while attending Oxford, practical-minded Bex endures ritzy society gatherings, fashionable outings, and unwelcome publicity as well as jealous ex-girlfriends and dark royal family secrets.
This Love Story Will Self-Destruct
Leslie Cohen
A pair of acquaintances who did not initially hit it off romantically, Eve and Ben, keep running into each other over and over again while they navigate their new adulthoods of first jobs, dates, breakups, reunions, betrayals and eventually love.
Miss You
Kate Eberlen
A chance meeting in Florence at the age of eighteen leads to a series of random encounters between Tess and Gus over the following sixteen years.
All About Us
Tom Ellen
Ben's always loved the month of December, but this year, with his relationship with Daphne on the rocks, it's missing its usual magic. And then his old friend Alice gets back in touch. Ben's always thought of Alice as the one that got away, and he can't help but wonder: what if he'd done things differently all those years ago?
The Royals Next Door
Karina Halle
When elementary school teacher Piper Evans, who leads a quiet, reclusive life, finds herself in the middle of a royal scandal that rocks her tight-knit community, she must decide what she is willing to give up to have her own happily ever after.
Book Lovers
Emily Henry
Agreeing to a holiday escape to the country, literary agent Nora keeps running into a bookish, hardheaded, arrogant editor she knows from Manhattan, and wishes she didn’t, even as she discovers they have more in common than previously thought.
All Your Perfects
Colleen Hoover
Quinn and Graham's perfect love is threatened by their imperfect marriage. The memories, mistakes, and secrets that they have built up over the years are now tearing them apart. The one thing that could save them might also be the very thing that pushes their marriage beyond the point of repair.
The Friend Zone
Abby Jimenez
Kristen Peterson doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children. Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen–especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.
The Happy Ever After Playlist
Abby Jimenez
Sloan Monroe can't catch a break. Two years after losing her fiance, her life consists of cemetery visits, unorthodox art projects, and drinking sessions with her best friend, Kristen. So when a dog dashes in front of her car and gets her a ticket for obstructing traffic, Sloan is at her wits' end. But after meeting the ridiculously attractive and charming owner of the trouble-making retriever, she begins to think that maybe her luck has finally started to turn around… When Jason Larsen — a.k.a. Jaxon Waters, rock n' roll's newest prodigy — turns on his phone after a two-week hiking trip in Australia, he's shocked to find out that his beloved dog Tucker escaped his babysitter and is being held hostage by a beautiful woman. As Jason and Sloan begin to fall for each other, past traumas and rising tensions prove that their seemingly perfect match may just go to the dogs
Love On Lexington Avenue
Lauren Layne
There are no good men left in New York City. At least that's Claire Hayes's conviction after finding out her late husband was not the man she thought he was. Determined to rid her home of anything that reminds her of her cheating husband, Claire sets out to redesign her boring, beige Upper East Side brownstone and make it something all her own. But what starts out as a simple renovation becomes a lot more complicated when she meets her bad-tempered contractor Scott Turner. Scott bluntly makes it known to Claire that he only took on her house for a change of pace from the corporate offices and swanky hotels he's been building lately, and he doesn't hesitate to add that he has no patience for a pampered, damaged princess with a penchant for pink. But when long workdays turn into even longer nights, their mutual wariness morphs into something more complicated–a grudging respect, and maybe even attraction…
When Dimple Met Rishi
Sandhya Menon
The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement� so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not? Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.
What Might Have Been
Holly Miller
In concurrent storylines that track what would have happened if she chose to Stay or Go to London, this sweeping story about destiny and who we are meant to be and love follows Lucy as she must make a career decision and choose between two very different men.
The Light We Lost
Jill Santopolo
Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University on a day that changes both of their lives forever. Together, they decide they want their lives to mean something, to matter. When they meet again a year later, it seems fated–perhaps they'll find life's meaning in each other. But then Gabe becomes a photojournalist assigned to the Middle East and Lucy pursues a career in New York. What follows is a thirteen-year journey of dreams, desires, jealousies, betrayals, and, ultimately, of love.
In Five Years
Rebecca Serle
When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend's marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan. But when she wakes up, she's suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It's the same night–December 15–but 2025, five years in the future. After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can't shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn't the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind. That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.
The Roughest Draft
Emily Wibberley, Austin Siegemund-Broka
Forced to reunite as they face crossroads in their personal and professional lives, authors Katrina and Nathan must work through the reasons they’ve hated each other for the past three years while writing a romantic novel that pushes them closer together in the Florida heat.
One Night On The Island
Josie Silver
Spending her thirtieth birthday alone is the last thing that dating columnist Cleo wanted, but she is going on a solo retreat in the name of re-energizing herself and adding a new perspective to her column. Mac is also looking forward to some time to himself. With his life in Boston deteriorating in ways he can't bring himself to acknowledge, his soul searching has brought him to the same Irish island in search of his roots and some clarity. Unfortunately, a mix-up with the bookings means both solitude seekers have reserved the same one-bedroom hideaway on exactly the same dates.
Ghosted
Rosie Walsh
When Sarah meets Eddie, they connect instantly and fall in love. To Sarah, it seems as though her life has finally begun. And it's mutual: It's as though Eddie has been waiting for her, too. Sarah has never been so certain of anything. So when Eddie leaves for a long-booked vacation and promises to call from the airport, she has no cause to doubt him. But he doesn't call.
Thriller
The Push
Ashley Audrain
A tense, page-turning psychological drama about the making and breaking of a family, about a woman whose experience of motherhood is nothing at all what she hoped for–and everything she feared. Blythe Connor is determined that she will be the warm, comforting, supportive mother to her new baby Violet that she herself never had. But in the thick of motherhood's exhausting early days, Blythe becomes convinced that something is wrong with her daughter–Violet rejects her mother, screams uncontrollably, and becomes a disturbing, disruptive presence at her preschool. Or is it all in Blythe's head? Her husband, Fox, says she's imagining things. What he sees is an overwhelmed wife who can't cope with the day-to-day grind. The more Fox dismisses her fears, the more Blythe begins to question her own sanity, and the more we begin to question what Blythe is telling us about her life as well. Then their son Sam is born–and with him, Blythe has the natural, blissful connection she'd always imagined with her child. Even Violet seems to love her little brother. But when life as they know it is changed in an instant, the devastating fall-out forces Blythe to face the truth. Here, we see the making and breaking of a family in crystalline detail, and what it feels like when women are not believed. The Push is a tour de force you will read in a sitting, an utterly immersive pageturner that will challenge everything you think you know about motherhood, about our children, and about what happens behind the doors of even the most perfect-looking families.
Tell Me Everything
Cambria Brockman
In her first weeks at Hawthorne College, Malin is swept up into a tight-knit circle that will stick together through all four years. There's Gemma, an insecure theater major from London; John, a tall, handsome, and wealthy New Englander; Max, John's cousin and a shy pre-med major; Khaled, a wise-cracking prince from Abu Dhabi; and Ruby, a beautiful art history major. But Malin is an expert at hiding her troubling past, using her extraordinary insight to detect the deepest vulnerabilities and weaknesses of those around her. On the cusp of graduation, Malin's secrets– and those of her friends– are revealed, setting in motion a devastating chain of events that ends in a murder.
The Ex
Alafair Burke
After agreeing to defend her ex-fiancé when he is arrested for a triple homicide, top criminal lawyer, Olivia Randall begins to have doubts as the evidence mounts against him.
Th1rt3en
Steve Cavanagh
It's the murder trial of the century: a movie star is accused of murdering his wife in their Manhattan home. Defense attorney Eddie Flynn believes his client is innocent, and the real killer is still out there. Juror Joshua Kane is in the best seat in the house– and he killed to get there. He plans for the wrong man to go down for the crime he committed. Now he'll stop anyone who stand in his way.
Run Away
Harlan Coben
After discovering his drug-addicted daughter Paige, who he has not seen in six months, panhandling in Central Park, Simon follows her into a dark and dangerous world he never knew existed that puts his family and his life on the line.
Night Fall
Nelson Demille
On a Long Island beach at dusk, Bob Mitchell and Janet Whitney conduct their illicit love affair in front of a video camera, set to record each steamy moment. Suddenly a terrible explosion lights up the sky. Grabbing the camera, the couple flees as approaching police cars speed toward the scene. Five years later, the crash of Flight 800 has been attributed to a mechanical mal-function. But for John Corey and Kate Mayfield, the case is not closed.
Woman In The Window
A.j. Finn
An agoraphobic recluse languishes in her New York City home, drinking wine and spying on her neighbors, before witnessing a terrible crime through her window that exposes her secrets and raises questions about her perceptions of reality.
In The Woods
Tana French
Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place in the same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories.
One Man
Andrew Gross
When a World War II physics professor with information vital to Allied forces is sent to a Nazi concentration camp, intelligence officer Nathan Blum is sent undercover to infiltrate Auschwitz and bring the professor to safety.
56 Days
Catherine Ryan Howard
When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who—and what—he really is.
The Plot
Jean Hanff Korelitz
Wildly successful author Jacob Finch Bonner, who had stolen the plot of his book from a late student, fights to hide the truth from his fans and publishers, while trying to figure out who wants to destroy him.
People Like Her
Ellery Lloyd
A successful media influencer's morally questionable relationship with the truth exposes deep psychological cracks in her marriage at the same time her family is targeted by a violently obsessed fan. To her adoring fans, Emmy Jackson, aka @the_mamabare, is the honest "Instamum" who always tells it like it is. To her skeptical husband, a washed-up novelist who knows just how creative Emmy can be with the truth, she is a breadwinning powerhouse chillingly brilliant at monetizing the intimate details of their family life. To one of Emmy's obsessive followers, she's the woman that has everything but deserves none of it. As Emmy's moral compass veers wildly off course, she becomes vulnerable to a very real danger circling ever closer to her family.
Do Not Become Alarmed
Maile Meloy
When Liv and Nora decide to take their families on a holiday cruise, everyone is thrilled. But when they all go ashore in beautiful Central America, a series of minor misfortunes leads the families farther and farther from the ship's safety. One minute the children are there, and the next they're gone. What follows is a riveting, revealing story told from the perspectives of the adults and the children.
Goodnight Beautiful
Aimee Molloy
Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York and start a life together in Sam's sleepy hometown in upstate New York. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist's wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn't satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie's happily ever after. Showcasing Molloy's deft ability to subvert norms and culminating in the kind of stunning twist that is becoming her trademark, Goodnight Beautiful is a thrilling tale of domestic suspense that not only questions assumptions but defies expectations.
Behind Closed Doors
B.a. Paris
The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie? Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You might not want to like them, but you do. You'd like to get to know Grace better. But it's difficult, because you realise Jack and Grace are never apart. Some might call this true love. Others might ask why Grace never answers the phone. Or how she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn't work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. And why there are bars on one of the bedroom windows.
The Expats
Chris Pavone
Kate Moore is a working mother, struggling to make ends meet, to raise children, to keep a spark in her marriage . . . and to maintain an increasingly unbearable life-defining secret. So when her husband is offered a lucrative job in Luxembourg, she jumps at the chance to leave behind her double-life, to start anew. Then another American couple arrives. Kate soon becomes suspicious that these people are not who they say they are, and she's terrified that her own past is catching up to her.
You Were Made For This
Michelle Sacks
Doting wife, devoted husband, cherished child. Merry, Sam, and Conor are the perfect family in the perfect place. Merry adores the domestic life: baking, gardening, caring for her infant son. Sam, formerly an academic, is pursuing a new career as a filmmaker. Sometimes they can hardly believe how lucky they are. What perfect new lives they've built. When Merry's childhood friend Frank visits their Swedish paradise, she immediately becomes part of the family. She bonds with Conor. And with Sam. She befriends the neighbors, and even finds herself embracing the domesticity she's always seemed to scorn. All their lives, Frank and Merry have been more like sisters than best friends. And that's why Frank soon sees the things others might miss. Treacherous things, which are almost impossible to believe when looking at this perfect family. But Frank, of all people, knows that the truth is rarely what you want the world to see.
Nowhere Child
Christian White
Kimberly Leamy is a photography teacher in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-eight years earlier, Sammy Went, a two-year old girl vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky. An American accountant who contacts Kim is convinced she was that child, kidnapped just after her birthday. She cannot believe the woman who raised her, a loving social worker who died of cancer four years ago, crossed international lines to steal a toddler. On April 3rd, 1990, Jack and Molly Went's daughter Sammy disappeared from the inside their Kentucky home. Already estranged since the girl's birth, the couple drifted further apart as time passed. Jack did his best to raise and protect his other daughter and son while Molly found solace in her faith. The Church of the Light Within, a Pentecostal fundamentalist group who handle poisonous snakes as part of their worship, provided that faith. Without Sammy, the Wents eventually fell apart. Now, with proof that she and Sammy are in fact the same person, Kim travels to America to reunite with a family she never knew she had. And to solve the mystery of her abduction, a mystery that will take her deep into the dark heart of religious fanaticism where she must fight for her life against those determined to save her soul.
The Wife And The Widow
Christian White
Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband's secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she's forced to confront the evidence of her husband's guilt. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives. Brilliant and beguiling, The Wife and The Widow takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love?