Librarian Recommended Reads
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The Berry Pickers By Amanda Peters 
July 1962. A Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries; weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie vanishes mysteriously, last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe. Joe will remain deeply affected by his sister's disappearance for years to come. In Boston, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions; as she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren't telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities. Winner of The Pulizer Prize for Fiction and the Women's Prize for Fiction
Trust by Hernan Diaz 
Told from the perspective of one woman bent on disentangling fact from fiction, this unrivaled novel about money, power, intimacy and perception is centered around the mystery of how the Rask family acquired their immense fortune in 1920s-1930's New York City. Winner of The Pulizer Prize for Fiction
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips 
In 1874, twelve-year-old ConaLee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives. Winner of The Pulizer Prize for Fiction
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe. WINNER OF THE 2024 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRIZE FOR AMERICAN FICTION
Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty 
Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy. In twelve striking, luminescent stories, author Morgan Talty -- with searing humor, abiding compassion, and deep insight -- breathes life into tales of family and a community as they struggle with a painful past and an uncertain future. A collection that examines the consequences and merits of inheritance. Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, American Academy of Arts & Letters Sue Kaufman Prize, and The New England Book Award
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma 
In Bliss Montage, Ling Ma brings us eight wildly different tales of people making their way through the madness and reality of our collective delusions: love and loneliness, connection and possession, friendship, motherhood, the idea of home. A woman lives in a house with all her ex-boyfriends. A toxic friendship grows up around a drug that makes you invisible. An ancient ritual might heal you of anything-if you bury yourself alive. These and other scenarios investigate the ways that the outlandish and the ordinary are shockingly, deceptively, heartbreakingly alike. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Story Prize, and a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka 
When a crack appears in the pool, a fellowship of swimmers who take comfort in their laps are cast out, including Alice, who, slowly losing her memory, is reunited too late with her estranged daughter, in this intimate story of mothers and daughters, and the sorrows of implacable loss. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Dr. No by Percival Everett 
he protagonist of Percival Everett’s puckish new novel is a brilliant professor of mathematics who goes by Wala Kitu. (Wala, he explains, means “nothing” in Tagalog, and Kitu is Swahili for “nothing.”) He is an expert on nothing. That is to say, he is an expert, and his area of study is nothing, and he does nothing about it. This makes him the perfect partner for the aspiring villain John Sill, who wants to break into Fort Knox to steal, well, not gold bars but a shoebox containing nothing. With the help of the brainy and brainwashed astrophysicist-turned-henchwoman Eigen Vector, our professor tries to foil the villain while remaining in his employ. WINNER OF THE 2023 PEN/JEAN STEIN BOOK AWARD
I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore 
A teacher visiting his dying brother in the Bronx. A mysterious journal from the nineteenth century stolen from a boarding house. A therapy clown and an assassin, both presumed dead, but perhaps not dead at all... Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton 
Juliette loves Nate. She will follow him anywhere. She's even become a flight attendant for his airline so she can keep a closer eye on him. They are meant to be. The fact that Nate broke up with her six months ago means nothing. Because Juliette has a plan to win him back. She is the perfect girlfriend. And she'll make sure no one stops her from getting exactly what she wants. True love hurts, but Juliette knows it's worth all the pain.
The Obsession by Nora Roberts 
Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father's crimes and made him infamous. Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, thousands of miles away from everything she's ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up-especially the determined Xander Keaton. Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she's always secretly craved. But as she's learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away.
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks 
When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing.
Lying with Strangers by James Grippando 
A first-year resident at a major Boston children's hospital, Peyton Shields finds her life irrevocably changed by an attack that she barely survives. No one, not even her husband Kevin, believes Peyton's claims that the "accident" was deliberate. Suddenly her wonderful life has turned dark and uncertain, and the terror has only just begun. Her husband is growing inexplicably distant and bitter, accusing her of paranoia, betrayal, and infidelity. And a series of bizarre and frightening events is moving Peyton steadily closer to a faceless, resourceful enemy who is watching her every move.
I See You by Clare Mackintosh 
During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her, a grainy photo along with a phone number and listing for a website called findtheone.com. Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they've become the victims of increasingly violent crimes--including rape and murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad's twisted purpose...a discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. For now Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target. And now that man on the train--the one smiling at Zoe from across the car--could be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move.
Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson 
Abigail Baskin never thought she'd fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. He's a good guy, stable, level-headed, and kind. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a moment of uncertainty. The drunken one-night stand from her bachelorette weekend, the sexy guy who wouldn't give her his real name, didn't really mean anything she keeps telling herself. She puts the incident out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life. Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears, and Abigail's future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something much, much more. Something special. Something real, and he's tracked her down to prove it.
Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens 
Lindsey Nash has left an abusive relationship and her ex-husband was sent to jail. She has started over with a new life, her own business, and a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When her husband is finally released, Lindsey believes she has cut all ties. There is no way he can ever find her and her daughter again. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her, tracking her every move. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded. Even her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it's her ex-husband, even though he claims he is a different person and doesn't want to do her any harm. But can he really change? Is the one who wants her dead even closer to home than she thought?
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin 
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. It turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. For Claire and her parents, there is only sad return home to broken lives. Years later, riding in a New York City taxi, Claire recognizes the name on the cabbie's license. The driver, Clive Richardson, is one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. The fateful encounter 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?
With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson 
To escape a relentless -- and increasingly unhinged -- stalker, actress Meribel Mills, along with her daughter, moves from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start only to find herself alone in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.
I Know You by Annabel Kantaria 
Far from what she imagined, Taylor Watson finds herself pregnant and lonely in her new home in the London suburbs, with a husband frequently away on business and only social media to keep her company. It’s only after Taylor joins a book club and a walking group, that she finally starts to make some real-life friends. Before long, Taylor’s hanging out with Anna, Sarah, Simon, and Caroline but, as her pregnancy progresses and her friendships blossom, a sense of unease develops. Nothing’s ever quite as it seems on the surface, and it soon becomes clear that Taylor’s new friends have secrets. But far more worryingly, one of the group’s not being too careful what they post on social media—and another is watching all too closely. Who’s stalking who . . . and why?
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark 
Cairo, 1912: When someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma, of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage. Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city-or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo 
In the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil. 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. 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.
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec 
Oddny and Gunnhild meet as children in tenth century Norway, and they could not be more different: Oddny hopes for a quiet life, while Gunnhild burns for power and longs to escape her cruel mother. But after a visiting wisewoman makes an ominous prophecy that involves Oddny, her sister Signy, and Gunnhild, the three girls take a blood oath to help one another always. When Oddny's farm is destroyed and Signy is kidnapped by Viking raiders, Oddny is set adrift from the life she imagined but determined to save her sister, no matter the cost. Gunnhild, who fled her home years ago to learn the ways of a witch in the far north, is on her way to her exalted destiny. But the bonds--both enchanted and emotional--that hold them together are strong, and when they find their way back to each other, these bonds will be tested in ways they could never have foreseen in this rich, searching novel of magic, history, and sworn sisterhood.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow 
In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft to change the course of history in Alix E. Harrow's powerful novel of magic and the suffragette movement. In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box. But when the Eastwood sisters -- James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna -- join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote -- and perhaps not even to live -- the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive. There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.
Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro 
England, 1882. Charlie Ovid's body heals itself, whether he wants it to or not. Marlowe, a foundling from a railway freight car, shines with a strange bluish light. He can melt or mend flesh. When Alice Quicke, a jaded detective with her own troubled past, is recruited to escort them to safety, all three begin a journey into the nature of difference and belonging. From the gaslit streets of London, and the wooden theaters of Meiji-era Tokyo, to an eerie estate outside Edinburgh where other children with gifts are forced to combat the forces that threaten their safety. There, the world of the dead and the world of the living threaten to collide. With this new found family, the Talents discover the truth about their abilities. And as secrets within the Institute unfurl, a new question arises: What truly defines a monster?
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg 
Under the tutelage of magician Emery Thane, Ceony Twill discovers the wonders of paper magic - animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic. An Excisioner -- a practitioner of dark, flesh magic -- invades the cottage and rips Thane's heart from his chest. To save her teacher's life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane's still-beating heart -- and reveal the very soul of the man.
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 
The Jazz Age is in full swing, and Casiopea Tun dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. A life she can call her own. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather's room. She opens it--and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea's demise, but success could make her dreams come true. In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City--and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, most people believe magic to have long since disappeared from England - until the reclusive Mr. Norrell reveals his powers and becomes an overnight celebrity. Another practicing magician then emerges: the young and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's pupil, and the two join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wild, most perilous forms of magic, and he soon risks sacrificing his partnership with Norrell and everything else he holds dear.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s retired peacefully to a life of piety and motherhood. But when she’s tracked down by the wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will. Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this jobthan she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
January 1918. Former field nurse Laura Iven, she receives word of her brother Freddie's death in combat - but something doesn't make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something-or someone-else? November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear. As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura's and Freddie's deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging-or better left behind entirely.
The Divorcées by Rowan Beaird 
Lois Saunders thought marrying the right man would cure her loneliness. But in 1951, unhappiness is hardly grounds for divorce - except in Reno, Nevada. At the Golden Yarrow, the most respectable of Reno’s famous “divorce ranches,” Lois finds herself living with other would-be divorcees for the six weeks’ residency that is the state’s only divorce requirement. But it isn’t until Greer Lang arrives that Lois’s world truly cracks open. Greer is unlike anyone Lois has ever met - and she sees something in Lois that no one else ever has. Under her influence, Lois begins to push against the limits that have always restrained her. How far will she go to forge her independence, on her own terms?
All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher 
Chicago, early 1970s: Who does a woman call when she needs help? Jane. Jane is an underground women's health organization composed entirely of women helping women. Veronica, Jane's founder, prides herself on the services she has provided to thousands of women, yet the price of others' freedom is that she leads a double life. When she's not at Jane, Veronica plays the role of a conventional housewife-which becomes even more difficult during her own high-risk pregnancy. Margaret, a young professor at the University of Chicago, secretly volunteers at Jane as she falls in love with a man whose attitude toward his ex-wife increasingly disturbs her. Patty, content as a devoted wife and mother, has begun to sense that something essential is missing from her life. In this historic moment when the personal was nothing if not political, Veronica, Margaret, and Patty must make choices that will change the course of their lives forever.
The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman 
In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility-much like Maggie Hughes' parents. Maggie's English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don't include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over. But Maggie's heart is captured by Gabriel Phénix. When she becomes pregnant at fifteen, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life 'back on track'. Elodie is raised in an orphanage turned psychiatric hospital until her release at age 17. Maggie, now married, reconnects with her first love and begins actively searching for her daughter, who she has never forgotten.
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott 
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world--using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents.
Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig 
Donal Cameron is being raised by his grandmother, the cook at the legendary Double W ranch in Ivan Doig's beloved Two Medicine Country of the Montana Rockies, a landscape that gives full rein to an eleven-year-old's imagination. But when Gram has to have surgery for "female trouble" in the summer of 1951, all she can think to do is to ship Donal off to her sister in faraway Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There Donal is in for a rude surprise: Aunt Kate-bossy, opinionated, argumentative, and tyrannical--is nothing like her sister. She henpecks her good-natured husband, Herman the German, and Donal can't seem to get on her good side either. After one contretemps too many, Kate packs him back to the authorities in Montana on the next Greyhound. But as it turns out, Donal isn't traveling solo: Herman the German has decided to fly the coop with him.
Songs in Ursa Major by Emma Brodie 
A love story set in 1969 at the crossroads of rock and folk, Songs in Ursa Major is shot through with the lyrics, the icons, the lore, and the adrenaline of the late 60s music scene. The year is 1969, and the Bayleen Island Folk Fest is abuzz with one name: Jesse Reid, whose intricate guitar riffs and supple baritone are poised to tip from fame to legend with this one headlining performance. That is, until his motorcycle crashes on the way to the show, and local band The Breakers takes his place...
The Shadow of War: A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis by Jeff Shaara 
The Shadow of War brings to life the many threads that lead to the building crisis between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1962. Told from a multitude of perspectives and voices, from the Russian engineer attempting the near impossible task of building the missile launch facilities in Cuba, to the U.S. Navy commanders who ships are sent to "quarantine" Cuba, to the Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev, desperately trying to maintain a challenging balancing act between the conflicting demands of various powerful forces, to the brothers Kennedy who can't allow Russia to land nuclear missiles in Cuba, or to appear weak in confronting Khrushchev, but keenly understand how close they are dancing to the edge of war.
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali 
In 1950s Tehran, on the first day of school, seven-year-old Ellie meets Homa. Together, the two girls play games, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls of the Grand Bazaar, and share their ambitions for becoming “lion women.” But their happiness is disrupted when Ellie and her mother move away. Now a popular student at the best girls’ high school in Iran, Ellie’s memories of Homa begin to fade. Years later, however, her sudden reappearance in Ellie’s privileged world alters the course of both of their lives. Together, the two young women come of age and pursue their own goals for meaningful futures. But as the political turmoil in Iran builds to a breaking point, one earth-shattering betrayal will have enormous consequences.
The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan 
As a Hungarian immigrant working as a studio hack writing monster movies in 1950s Hollywood, George Curtis must navigate the McCarthy-era studio system filled with possible communists and spies, the life of closeted men along Sunset Boulevard, and the inability of the era to cleave love from persecution and guilt. But when Madeline, a famous actress, offers George a writing residency at her estate in Malibu to work on the political writing he cares most deeply about, his world is blown open. Soon Madeline is carrying George like an ornament into a class of postwar L.A. society ordinarily hidden from men like him. What this lifestyle hides behind, aside from the monsters on the screen, are the monsters dwelling closer to home.
California Golden by Melanie Benjamin 
Southern California, 1960s: In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donelly is breaking the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport--and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of her unconventional lifestyle. The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother's absence--physically, when she's at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she's at home. To escape questions about Carol's whereabouts--and chase their mom's elusive affection--they cut school to spend their days in the surf. As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger's relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and USO tours to Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger--desperate for a community of her own--is tugged into the vibrant counterculture of drugs and cults.
If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy 
With a shiny new design degree but no job in sight, Cindy moves back in with her stepmother, the executive producer of the world's biggest dating reality show. When a contestant on Before Midnight bows out at the last minute, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight. Showcasing her killer shoe collection on network TV seems like a great way to jump-start her career. And, while she's at it, why not go on a few lavish dates with an eligible suitor? But being the first and only fat contestant on Before Midnight turns her into a viral sensation--and a body-positivity icon--overnight. Even harder to believe? She can actually see herself falling for this Prince Charming.
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan 
Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it's her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage's collapse into cash and writes the best script ofher life. No one is more surprised than her when it's picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne'er do well husband Nora's life will never be the same.
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. 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 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. 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.
The Reunion by Kayla Olson 
Liv Latimer grew up on TV. As the star of the popular teen drama Girl on the Verge, Liv spent her adolescence on the screen trying to be as picture perfect as her character in real life. But after the death of her father and the betrayal of her on-screen love interest and off-screen best friend Ransom Joel, Liv wanted nothing more than to retreat, living a mostly normal life aside from a few indie film roles. But now, twenty years after the show’s premiere, the cast is invited back for a reunion special.
Right on Cue by Falon Ballard 
Emmy Harper has penned some of the most popular movies of the past few years. But, unable to find the perfect leading lady for her latest project, Emmy's been recruited to take on the role herself, dusting off acting skills she hasn't used in over a decade. Things take a turn for the worse when a she's left with the one costar she can't trust: Grayson West. A blockbuster action hero known for his megawatt smile and impossible abs, Grayson is anyone's dream of a romantic lead. Too bad Emmy still blames him for her disastrous first movie and the early end to her acting career. The friction between the two risks tanking the movie. But if they want to save the production--and their own careers--they need to get their acts together quickly, both on and off camera.
Exposed to you by Beth Kery 
It's not often you're hired to paint a body tattoo on a total stranger at a Hollywood film set. A reserved and careful art teacher, Joy would never forget it. In a rare fit of raw desire she gave herself completely, knowing she'd never see him again. Little did she know, the man with whom she shared that lightning bolt of lust was star Everett Hughes. For Everett, women and sex came as easily as fame. But how could he hope to convince the guarded Joy that beneath the hard body and sexy facade of celebrity was a real man who wanted only one, real woman?
The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore 
Romance novelist Jacqueline Matthis's big career has gone bust and she's New York City for her South Carolina hometown. Desperate, Jac dreams up a comeback plan--she is going to be a contestant on there reality dating show, 1. After all Jac is a romance writer--she knows how to pull off a meet-cute and create a spicy plotline. On set, she’s shocked to discover that Henry Foster, her last one-night stand before the show, was actually a producer on the 1? Henry is just as horrified... but they can't seem to keep their hands off each other. As the show unfurls, she slowly discovers that she's getting the villain edit. They say there's no such thing as bad publicity, but as Jac's secret plan begins crumbling around her, she's not so sure. What happens if Marcus chooses her? Worse, what happens if her affair with Henry comes to light? What if, in trying to save her career, Jac has ruined her life.
Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender 
Logan Gray is the stereotypical bad boy of Hollywood--a talented but troubled actor who the public loves to hate. Mattie Cole is an up and coming golden boy, adored by all but plagued by insecurities. When Mattie is cast as the love interest in Logan's newest film, the two are persuaded into a fake dating scheme to bring positive publicity to the project. But as the two actors get to know their new characters, real feelings start to develop. And while both need the movie to be a success for their own reasons, neither thought opposites would really attract. But as the public scrutiny intensifies and old wounds resurface, will they have the courage to chase their own happily ever after?
Will They or Won't They by Ava Wilder 
Stars of a hit paranormal TV show, Lilah and Shane, who, after a secret behind-the-scenes fling imploded, despise each other. Now back on set together for the first time in years to film the final season, and with the world's eyes on them and their post-show careers on the line, they'll have to grit their teeth and play nice. But with pressure from the studio to keep fans of their love story happy, the show runners make sure that Lilah and Shane's characters can't keep their hands (or lips) off each other. And if they're not careful, they just might get blindsided by one final twist: winding up together after the cameras stop rolling.
Hot Summer by Elle Everhart 
Like the rest of the TV-watching UK public, Cas Morgan's captivated by the hit reality dating show, Hot Summer. When her company secures a partnership with the show's production team, Cas is handpicked as a contestant. If she does well and makes it to the finals, her long-awaited promotion will be secured. Cas is ready to spend the summer trying to win over the voting public. Quickly, however, her entire plan goes off course. She's instantly smitten with fellow contestant, Ada. Ada is gorgeous and charming, and seems to like Cas exactly as she is, sharp-edges and all. Cas isn't used to the side of herself Ada brings out, and when their connection becomes undeniable--and Cas's own standing in the villa precarious--she's torn between listening to her heart or sticking to her strategy.
The House of Kennedy by James Patterson 
The Kennedys have always been a family of charismatic adventurers, raised to take risks and excel, living by the dual family mottos: "To whom much is given, much is expected" and "Win at all costs." And they do--but at a price. Across decades and generations, the Kennedys have occupied a unique place in the American imagination: charmed, cursed, at once familiar and unknowable. The House of Kennedy is a revealing, fascinating account of America's most storied family, as told by America's most trusted storyteller.
Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune by Anderson Cooper 
From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society. Over several generations, Astors ruled Gilded Age New York society and inserted themselves into political and cultural life, but also suffered the most famous loss on the Titanic, one of many shocking and unexpected twists in the family’s story. Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe chronicle the lives of the Astors and explore what the Astor name has come to mean in America—offering a window onto the making of America itself.
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns 
By giving us intimate portraits of Theodore, Eleanor, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the coauthors offer a larger picture of the entire family, uniting the Republican Roosevelts of Oyster Bay with the Democrat Roosevelts of Hyde Park to show a family with the strong sense of public service that's lacking today.
Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family by Rachel Jamison Webster 
A family reunion gives way to an unforgettable genealogical quest as relatives reconnect across lines of color, culture, and time, putting the past into urgent conversation with the present. In 1791, Thomas Jefferson hired a Black man to help survey Washington, DC. That man was Benjamin Banneker, an African American mathematician, a writer of almanacs, and one of the greatest astronomers of his generation. Banneker then wrote what would become a famous letter to Jefferson, imploring the new president to examine his hypocrisy, as someone who claimed to love liberty yet was an enslaver. More than two centuries later, Rachel Jamison Webster, an ostensibly white woman, learns that this groundbreaking Black forefather is also her distant relative.
The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli 
Demanding and enigmatic, patriarch Conrad Hilton's visionary ideas and unyielding will established the model for the modern luxury hotel industry. But outside the boardroom, Conrad struggled with emotional detachment, failed marriages, and conflicted Catholicism. Then there were his children: Playboy Nicky Hilton's tragic alcoholism and marriage to Elizabeth Taylor was the stuff of tabloid legend. Barron Hilton, on the other hand, deftly handled his father's legacy, carrying the Hilton brand triumphantly into the new millennium. Eric, raised apart from his older brothers, accepted his supporting role in the Hilton dynasty with calm and quiet-a stark contrast to the boys' much younger half-sister Francesca, whose battle for recognition led her into courtrooms and conflict. The Hiltons is a sweeping saga of the success-and excess-of an iconic American family.
The Rise of the Tudors: The Family That Changed English History by Chris Skidmore 
On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields several miles from Bosworth, the might of Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor. It would become one of the most legendary battles in English history: the end of the War of the Roses and the only successful invasion since Hastings, it was the last time a king died on the battlefield. But The Rise Of The Tudors is much more than the account of the dramatic events of that fateful day in August. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England--a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois.
The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire by Francesca Cartier Brickell 
The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty--four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was "Never copy, only create" and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents: Louis, the visionary designer; Pierre, the master dealmaker; and Jacques, the globe-trotting gemstone expert. Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, has traveled the world researching her family's history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told dramas, romances, intrigues, betrayals, and more.
Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper 
When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father's small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires - one in shipping and another in railroads - that would make him the richest man in America. By 2018, when the last Vanderbilt was forced out of The Breakers - the seventy-room summer estate in Newport, Rhode Island - the family would have been unrecognizable to the tycoon who started it all. Now, the Commodore's great-great-great-grandson Anderson Cooper joins with historian Katherine Howe to explore the story of his legendary family and their outsized influence.
The Black Calhouns: From Civil War to Civil Rights with One African American Family by Gail Lumet Buckley 
The daughter of actress Lena Horne traces the story of her family between two major human rights periods in America, sharing the stories of her house-slave-turned-businessman ancestor, the branches of her family that lived in the North and South and their experiences during the Jim Crow and wartime eras.
Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty by Jerry Oppenheimer 
From the founders of the international health-care behemoth Johnson & Johnson in the late 1800s to the contemporary Johnsons of today, such as billionaire New York Jets owner Robert Wood "Woody" Johnson IV, all is revealed in this unauthorized biography. Often compared to the Kennedy clan because of the tragedies and scandals that had befallen both wealthy and powerful families, this book, based on scores of exclusive, candid, on-the-record interviews, reveals how the dynasty's vast fortune was both intoxicating and toxic through the generations of a family that gave the world Band-Aids and Baby Oil. At the same time, they have been termed perhaps the most dysfunctional family in the Fortune 500.
Liberty or Death: The French Revolution by Peter McPhee 
The French Revolution has fascinated, perplexed and inspired for more than two centuries. It was a seismic event that radically transformed France and sent shock waves across the world. In this provocative new history, Peter McPhee draws on a lifetime's study of eighteenth-century France and Europe to create an entirely fresh account of the world's first great modern revolution: its origins, drama, complexity and significance.
The Rival Queens: Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone 
Set in magnificent Renaissance France, this is the story of two remarkable women, a mother and daughter driven into opposition by a terrible betrayal that threatened to destroy the realm. Rich in detail and vivid prose, Goldstone's narrative unfolds as a thrilling historical epic. Treacherous court politics, poisonings, international espionage, and adultery form the background to a story that includes such celebrated figures as Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Nostradamus. The Rival Queens is a dangerous tale of love, betrayal, ambition, and the true nature of courage, the echoes of which still resonate.
House of Lilies: The Dynasty That Made Medieval France by Justine Firnhaber-Baker 
One of the great epics of Europe's history, the story of the rise and rise of the Capetian dynasty dominates the Middle Ages. Starting in the tenth century from an insecure foothold around Paris, the Capetians built a nation that stretched from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and from the Rh ne to the Pyrenees. This is their story, the story of the most powerful kingdom in Christendom. It is a tale of religious upheaval, heroism, adulterous affairs, holy wars, pogroms and persecution. From Hugh Capet to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the Capetians were men and women of vision and ambition, who considered themselves chosen by God to fulfil a great destiny. If they were mistaken in their assumptions and merciless in their methods, in one respect they were right. They did not simply rule France- they created it.
Twilight of the Belle Epoque: The Paris of Picasso, Stravinsky, Proust, Renault, Marie Curie, Gertrude Stein, and Their Friends through the Great War by Mary McAuliffe 
In Twilight of the Belle Epoque, Mary McAuliffe portrays Paris in full flower at the turn of the twentieth century, where creative dynamos such as Picasso, Matisse, Stravinsky, and Debussy set their respective circles on fire with their revolutionary visions and discoveries. But all was not well in this world, remembered in hindsight as a golden age, and wrenching struggles between Church and state as well as between haves and have-nots shadowed these years, underscored by the ever-more-ominous drumbeat of the approaching Great War--a cataclysm that would brutally bring the Belle Epoque to its close.
The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach by John C. McManus 
Nicknamed the Big Red One, 1st Division had fought from North Africa to Sicily, earning a reputation as stalwart warriors on the front lines and rabble-rousers in the rear. Yet on D-Day, these jaded combat veterans melded with fresh-faced replacements to accomplish one of the most challenging and deadly missions ever. As the men hit the beach, their equipment destroyed or washed away, soldiers cut down by the dozens, courageous heroes emerged.
City of light, city of poison : murder, magic, and the first police chief of Paris / Holly Tucker 
In the late 1600s, Louis XIV assigns Nicolas de la Reynie to bring order to Paris after the brutal deaths of two magistrates. Reynie, pragmatic and fearless, discovers a network of witches, poisoners, and priests whose reach extends all the way to the king’s court at Versailles. Based on court transcripts and Reynie’s compulsive note-taking, Holly Tucker’s engrossing true-crime narrative makes the characters breathe on the page as she follows the police chief into the dark labyrinths of crime-ridden Paris, the halls of royal palaces, secret courtrooms, and torture chambers.
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss 
General Alex Dumas is a man almost unknown today, yet his story is strikingly familiar—because his son, the novelist Alexandre Dumas, used his larger-than-life feats as inspiration for such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. He was the son of a black slave—who rose higher in the white world than any man of his race would before our own time. Born in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Alex Dumas made his way to Paris, where he rose to command armies at the height of the Revolution—until he met an implacable enemy he could not defeat. The Black Count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th-century France, and a window into the modern world’s first multi-racial society.
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead 
In January 1943, the Gestapo hunted down 230 women of the French Resistance and sent them to Auschwitz. This is their story, told in full for the first time--a searing and unforgettable chronicle of terror, courage, defiance, survival, and the power of friendship to transcend evil that is an essential addition to the history of World War II.
Bismarck's War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe by Rachel Chrastil 
Among the conflicts that convulsed Europe during the nineteenth century, none was more startling and consequential than the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Deliberately engineered by Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the war succeeded in shattering French supremacy, deposing Napoleon III, and uniting a new German Empire. But it also produced brutal military innovations and a precarious new imbalance of power that together set the stage for the devastating world wars of the next century.
France: A Modern History from the Revolution to the War with Terror by Jonathan Fenby 
With the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, the next two centuries for France would be tumultuous. Critically acclaimed historian and political commentator Jonathan Fenby provides an expert and riveting journey through this period as he recounts and analyzes the extraordinary sequence of events of this period from the end of the First Revolution through two others, a return of Empire, three catastrophic wars with Germany, periods of stability and hope interspersed with years of uncertainty and high tensions.
Ethics 101: From Altruism and Utilitarianism to Bioethics and Political Ethics, an Exploration of the Concepts of Right and Wrong by Brian Boone 
Ethics 101 offers an exciting look into the history of moral principles that dictate human behavior. This easy-to-read guide presents the key concepts of ethics in fun, straightforward lessons and exercises featuring only the most important facts, theories, and ideas. Ethics 101 includes unique, accessible elements such as explanations of the major moral philosophies, including utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and eastern philosophers including Avicenna, Buddha, and Confucius; and unique profiles of the greatest characters in moral philosophy
How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley 
Nations don't have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism's roots have been present in the United States for more than a century. Alarmed by the pervasive rise of fascist tactics both at home and around the globe, Stanley focuses here on the structures that unite them, laying out and analyzing the ten pillars of fascist politics-the language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics-charged by rhetoric and myth-can quickly become policy and reality. Only by recognizing fascists politics, he argues, may we resist its most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.
The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen 
The Declaration of Independence identified “the pursuit of happiness” as one of our unalienable rights, along with life and liberty. Jeffrey Rosen profiles six of the most influential founders-Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton-to show what pursuing happiness meant in their lives. By reading the classical Greek and Roman moral philosophers who inspired the Founders, Rosen shows us how they understood the pursuit of happiness as a quest for being good, not feeling good-the pursuit of lifelong virtue, not short-term pleasure. The Pursuit of Happiness is more than an elucidation of the Declaration’s famous phrase; it is a revelatory journey into the minds of the Founders, and a deep, rich, and fresh understanding of the foundation of our democracy
World Classics Library: Plato 
Plato's ideas on morality, reason, justice, and religion have laid the foundations of Western philosophy. This beautiful jacketed hardcover collects some of his most celebrated writings. These Ancient Greek dialogues are written as conversations between Plato's mentor Socrates and various Athenian citizens, covering vast range of topics including the construction of communities, immortality of the soul, temperance, rhetoric and virtue. His writings have been studied for hundreds of years and yet remain strikingly relevant and accessible for a modern readership.
Includes: The Republic ; Charmides ; Meno ; Gorgias ; Parmenides ; Symposium ; Euthyphro ; Apology ; Crito ; Phaedo
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: Britain and the American Dream by Peter Moore 
The true story of what may be the most successful import in US history: the “American dream.” Centered on the friendship between Benjamin Franklin and the British publisher William Strahan, and featuring figures including the cultural giant Samuel Johnson, the ground-breaking historian Catharine Macaulay, the firebrand politician John Wilkes, and revolutionary activist Thomas Paine, this book looks at the generation that preceded the Declaration in 1776. Everyone, it seemed, had “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” on their minds; Moore shows why, and reveals how these still-nascent ideals made their way across an ocean and started a revolution.
The Communist Manifesto (Norton Critical Editions) by Karl Marx 
This Norton Critical Edition offers a complete historical and philosophical introduction to Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party. It will assist students making their first approach to Marx's thought as well as those ready to study the Manifesto in more depth. For beginning students, this edition provides a carefully annotated text of the Manifesto and two introductory sections by Frederic Bender, a "Chronology of Events Leading to the Communist Manifesto" and "Historical and Theoretical Backgrounds of the Communist Manifesto." More experienced students will benefit from selections on the sources of Marx's thought, the significance of the Manifesto in the history of Marxism, and recent interpretations of the work.
The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir 
Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, Simone de Beauvoir's masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of "woman, " and a groundbreaking exploration of inequality and otherness. This long-awaited new edition reinstates significant portions of the original French text that were cut in the first English translation. Vital and groundbreaking, Beauvoir's pioneering and impressive text remains as pertinent today as it was sixty years ago, and will continue to provoke and inspire generations of men and women to come.
The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure by Yascha Mounk 
Some democracies are highly homogeneous. Others have long maintained a brutal racial or religious hierarchy, with some groups dominating and exploiting others. Never in history has a democracy succeeded in being both diverse and equal, treating members of many different ethnic or religious groups fairly. And yet achieving that goal is now central to the democratic project in countries around the world. It is, Yascha Mounk argues, the greatest experiment of our time. Drawing on history, social psychology, and comparative politics, Mounk examines how diverse societies have long suffered from the ills of domination, fragmentation, or structured anarchy, and shows us that the past can offer crucial insights for how to do better in the future. There is real reason for hope.
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli 
The modern-day term “Machiavellian” is used to describe deception, dishonesty, and cruelty to meet a goal. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli was written as a guide for autocrats on how to govern using means that were meant to deceive and manipulate a government’s constituency—to the extent of advocating the use of evil for political expediency. In this classic work, the end justifies the means reigns paramount to Machiavelli’s system of government.
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel 
This book is a searching, lyrical exploration of the meaning of justice, one that invites readers of all political persuasions to consider familiar controversies in fresh and illuminating ways. Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, patriotism and dissent, the moral limits of markets-Sandel dramatizes the challenge of thinking through these con'icts, and shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well. Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise-an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the hard questions of our civic life.