Cross My Heart and Never Lie written and illustrated by Nora Dåsnes, translated by Matt Bagguley

Nora Dåsnes, a Norwegian author and illustrator, has written the Stonewall Book Award winning juvenile graphic novel Cross My Heart and Never Lie. This graphic novel, translated by Matt Bugguley, tells the story of Tuva, a new seventh grader, and her questions about becoming a teenager. Tuva has big goals for the year. She wants a trendy look, to build the best fort in the woods with her two best friends Linnea and Boa, and to do so many other things. When she starts seventh grade, Tuva quickly realizes that nothing is what she thought it would be.

Linnea has fallen in love and has a boyfriend. Bao thinks that this is ridiculous and absolutely hates everything to do with love. They both expect Tuva to pick a side, which is not what she wants to do. As the days pass, her friends split into two teams: Team Linnea and the girls who fall in love versus Team Bao and the girls who will never fall in love. Tuva spends her time wondering where she falls and struggling to keep both of her friends happy. On one hand, she wants to stay a kid and build forts with Bao, but on the other hand, she wants to learn how to become a mature teenager like Linnea. When Miriam, a new student, shows up, Tuva is drawn to her. She feels like she has met her soulmate, but that adds more confusion for Tuva. What is she feeling? Will her friends accept her? How will she survive these big changes?

I wish Cross My Heart and Never Lie had been around when I was in junior high. It was so refreshing to read about an awkward seventh grader who had no idea who they were and was struggling to figure out basically everything. This age is so confusing, but Nora addresses this awkwardness in an incredibly realistic way. The choice of a diary-style graphic novel added to the relatability for me. At points, I found myself wanting to be able to reach into the book and tell Tuva that everything will be okay. Five star read.

October’s Bestsellers Club Fiction and Nonfiction Picks

It’s a new quarter and that means new fiction and nonfiction picks have been selected for you courtesy of Bestsellers Club! Four fiction picks are available for you to choose from: diverse debuts, graphic novel, historical fiction, and international fiction. Four nonfiction picks are available for you to choose from: biographies, cookbooks, social justice, and true crime. Our fiction and nonfiction picks are chosen quarterly and are available in regular print only. If you would like to update your selections or are a new patron who wants to receive picks from any of those four categories, sign up for Bestsellers Club through our website!

Bestsellers Club is a service that automatically places you on hold for authors, celebrity picks, nonfiction picks, and fiction picks. Choose any author, celebrity pick, fiction pick, and/or nonfiction pick and The Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! Still have questions? Click here for a list of FAQs.

Below you will find information provided by the publishers and authors on the titles we have selected from the following categories in fiction: diverse debuts, graphic novel, historical fiction, and international fiction and the following categories in nonfiction: biographies, cookbooks, social justice, and true crime.

Acronym definitions
BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
LGBTQ+: Lesbian, gay, transgender, queer, and more.

FICTION PICKS

Diverse Debuts:

Diverse Debuts: Debut fiction novel by a BIPOC author, LGBTQ+ author or an author from another marginalized community.

This Here is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry

Three people—two enslaved, one indentured—living beside each other, struggling against their circumstances, trying to bend destiny.

As the seventeenth century burns to a close in Tidewater, Virginia, America’s character is wrought in the fires of wealth, race, and freedom.

Young Bless, the only child left to her enslaved mother, stubbornly crafts the terms of her vital existence. She stands as the lone bulwark between her mother and irreparable despair, her mother’s only possibility of hope, as Bless reshapes the boundaries of love.

David is a helping child and a solace to his parents, and he gave a purpose to their trials. His survival hinges on his mother’s shrewd intellect and ferocious fight, but his sustenance is his freed Black father’s dream of emancipation for the entire family.

Jack Dane, a Scots-Irish boy, sails to Britain’s colonies when his father sells him into indentured servitude as an escape from poverty. There Jack learns from the rich the value of each person’s life.

A breathtaking, haunting, and epic saga, This Here Is Love intimately intertwines us with these beautifully drawn, unforgettable American characters. Bless, taken to serve the slaveowner’s daughter, must decide where she belongs: with the enslaved or above them. David, sold away from his people, retreats into himself even as he yearns to unite with others. Jack, acting impetuously, changes his fortune, but will doing so sacrifice his humanity?

All three come together on Jack’s land. As they face and challenge each other, they will relinquish and remake beliefs about family and freedom, even as they confront the limits of love. – W.W. Norton & Company


Graphic Novel:

Graphic Novel: Fiction novel for adults of any subgenre with diverse characters depicted by color illustrations, sketches, and photographs.

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

In E.M. Carroll’s haunting adult graphic novel horror story A Guest in the House, a young woman marries a kind dentist only to realize that there’s a dark mystery surrounding his former wife’s death.

After many lonely years, Abby’s just gotten married. She met her new husband—a recently widowed dentist—when he arrived in town with his young daughter, seeking a new start. Although it’s strange living in the shadow of her predecessor, Abby does her best to be a good wife and mother. But the more she learns about her new husband’s first wife, the more things don’t add up. And Abby starts to wonder . . . was Sheila’s death really by natural causes? As Abby sinks deeper into confusion, Sheila’s memory seems to become a force all its own, ensnaring Abby in a mystery that leaves her obsessed, fascinated, and desperately in love for the first time in her life.

E.M. Carroll’s masterful balance of black and white, surreal colors, rich textures, and dramatic lettering is assured to bring this story to life and give readers a chill up their spine as they read. – 23rd St.


Historical Fiction:

Historical Fiction: Historical fiction novel written by a BIPOC author, LGBTQ+ author or an author from another marginalized community, with main character(s) from a marginalized community.

The Great Mann by Kyra Davis Lurie

In 1945, Charlie Trammell steps off a cross-country train into the vibrant tapestry of Los Angeles. Lured by his cousin Marguerite’s invitation to the esteemed West Adams Heights, Charlie is immediately captivated by the Black opulence of L.A.’s newly rechristened “Sugar Hill.”

Settling in at a local actress’s energetic boarding house, Charlie discovers a different way of life—one brimming with opportunity—from a promising career at a Black-owned insurance firm, the absence of Jim Crow, to the potential of an unforgettable romance. But nothing dazzles quite like James “Reaper” Mann.

Reaper’s extravagant parties, attended by luminaries like Lena Horne and Hattie McDaniel, draw Charlie in, bringing the milieu of wealth and excess within his reach. But as Charlie’s unusual bond with Reaper deepens, so does the tension in the neighborhood as white neighbors, frustrated by their own dwindling fortunes, ignite a landmark court case that threatens the community’s well-being with promises of retribution.

Told from the unique perspective of a young man who has just returned from a grueling, segregated war, The Great Mann weaves a compelling narrative of wealth and class, illuminating the complexities of Black identity and education in post-war America. – Crown


International Fiction:

International Fiction: Fiction novel originally written in another language with main character(s) from marginalized communities.

Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet ; translated by Nicholas Glastonbury

A gay couple’s 40-year relationship is imperiled by a new arrival to their sleepy island paradise: The Birdcage as done by Highsmith.

Fehmi and Şener have been together forty years—no small feat for any pair, but especially admirable for a gay couple in Turkey. Behind closed doors, their life on Büyükada, an idyllic island near Istanbul, is like a powder keg that needs only one spark to blow. That spark soon comes in the form of Deniz, the wildly handsome and troubled teenager next door, who immediately catches Fehmi’s eye.

This “harmless” crush immediately raises Şener’s hackles; although he doesn’t think Deniz would ever reciprocate Fehmi’s feelings, it’s not a risk he’s willing to take. But when one betrayal leads to another, Deniz hatches a plan, and the sultry summer takes a dark turn as the couple’s relationship is put to the test like never before. Will lust or love win the day? One thing’s for sure: not everyone will be getting out of this love triangle alive.

Dishy, suspenseful, and boiling over with black humor, Yiğit Karaahmet’s debut makes a fierce political statement about supporting “gay wrongs” while also introducing a shockingly lovable pair of antiheroes who could be Tom Ripley’s grandfathers. – Soho Crime


NONFICTION PICKS

Biography pick

Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution by Molly Beer

A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton’s influential sister-in-law.

Few women of the American Revolution have come through 250 years of US history with such clarity and color as Angelica Schuyler Church. She was Alexander Hamilton’s “saucy” sister-in-law, and the heart of Thomas Jefferson’s “charming coterie” of artists and salonnières in Paris. Her transatlantic network of important friends spanned the political spectrum of her time and place, and her astute eye and brilliant letters kept them well informed.

A woman of great influence in a time of influential women (Catherine the Great and Marie-Antoinette were contemporaries), Angelica was at the red-hot center of American history at its birth: in Boston, when General Burgoyne surrendered to the revolutionaries; in Newport, receiving French troops under the command of her soon-to-be dear friend Marquis de Lafayette; in Yorktown, just after the decisive battle; in Paris and London, helping to determine the standing of the new nation on the world stage.

She was born as Engeltje, a Dutch-speaking, slave-owning colonial girl who witnessed the Stamp Act riots in the Royal British Province of New York. She came of age under English rule as Angelica, the eldest daughter of the most important family on the northern part of Hudson’s River, raised to be a domestic diplomat responsible for hosting indigenous chiefs and enemy British generals at dinner. She was Madame Church, wife of a privateer turned merchant banker, whose London house was a refuge for veterans of the American war fleeing the guillotine in France. Across nationalities, languages, and cultures, across the divides of war, grievance, and geography, Angelica wove a web of soft-power connections that spanned the War for Independence, the post-war years of tenuous peace, and the turbulent politics and rival ideologies that threatened to tear apart the nascent United States

In this enthralling and revealing woman’s-eye view of a revolutionary era, Molly Beer breathes vibrant new life into a period usually dominated by masculine themes and often dulled by familiarity. In telling Angelica’s story, she illuminates how American women have always plied influence and networks for political ends, including the making of a new nation. – W.W. Norton & Company


Cookbook pick

Simple Pleasures: Incredibly Craveable Recipes for Everyday Cooking by Jodi Moreno

Jodi Moreno captures life’s simple pleasures in her collection of super-easy-to-make, highly craveable comfort recipes. In addition to the standard chapters on breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, this playful book has sections devoted to pasta parties and long leisurely gatherings with friends—all with super adaptable recipes that feel both unexpected and approachable.

James Beard–nominated chef Jodi Moreno captures life’s simple pleasures in her collection of super-easy-to-make, highly craveable comfort recipes.

Sizzling bacon in the morning
A perfectly ripe avocado
Freshly baked bread out of the oven
Pomodoro simmering on the stove
…these are just a few of life’s simple pleasures.

A few things you will be sure to find: lots of butter, crème fraîche in desserts, juicy ripe tomatoes everywhere, mounds of parmesan cheese, blankets of sauces, layers of texture and flavor, and the perfect mix of indulgence + feel-good foods to nourish you inside and out.

In addition to the standard chapters on breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, this playful book has sections devoted to pasta parties and long leisurely gatherings with friends—all with super adaptable recipes that feel both unexpected and approachable. – Gibbs Smith


Social Justice pick

Body Problems: What Intersex Priest Sally Gross Teaches Us About Embodiment, Justice, and Belonging by M. Wolff

In Body Problems, M. Wolff offers groundbreaking insight into Sally Gross, a South African intersex priest and activist whose body was continuously policed and politicized. Gross’s role in founding Intersex South Africa and her involvement with the African National Congress are celebrated in the Apartheid Museum, but the complex dimensions of her life—from her Jewish heritage to her Christian priesthood and Buddhist practices—remain largely unexplored. Wolff illuminates these lesser-known aspects of Gross’s spirituality and theorizes her resistance to the regulation of intersexuality. The book urges readers to rethink bodies and belonging, particularly as they relate to formations of gender and religion. Wolff presents Gross’s life as a guide for discerning our commitments to social justice and responsible relations. Body Problems is a timely and expansive contribution to ongoing discourses on the medical, religious, and political construction of bodies. – Duke University Press


True Crime pick

The Sleep Room: A Sadistic Psychiatrist and the Women Who Survived Him by Jon Stock

A chilling true story of medical abuse, psychological manipulation, and the women who refused to be silenced.

In the heart of postwar London, Dr. William Sargant was a revered psychiatrist with a glittering résumé. He was also a regular lecturer in the United States, where he was a visiting professor at Duke University and had close connections with the CIA.

But behind the doors of Ward Five at the Royal Waterloo Hospital, he orchestrated one of the most disturbing chapters in modern psychiatric history.

Known as the Sleep Room, this ward became the site of relentless experimentation. Women—many young, vulnerable, and without consent—were subjected to months of chemically induced sleep, interrupted only for electroconvulsive therapy and forced feedings. Their identities blurred, their memories fractured, and their lives forever altered.

Now, decades later, the survivors are speaking out. In this gripping investigation, journalist and novelist Jon Stock uncovers the dark legacy of Sargant’s methods, the institutional complicity that enabled them, and the haunting question: Were these women victims of rogue science—or pawns in a broader, state-sanctioned agenda?

The Sleep Room is a powerful blend of investigative journalism and survivor testimony, exposing the twisted intersection of medicine, power, and secrecy. – Abrams Press


Join Bestsellers Club to have the newest fiction and nonfiction picks automatically put on hold for you every quarter.

Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (In Love) written and illustrated by Laura Gao

Laura Gao’s latest graphic novel, Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (In Love), grabbed me from the start in this young adult graphic novel about someone so different from myself, yet so relatable. This coming-of-age story was beautiful and angsty and full of slow-burn romance that had me cheering at the end, hoping that each character would find their happily-for-now.

Kirby Tan learned rock climbing from the best, her father. After his death, she fell into a slump, but with her mother’s encouragement, Kirby went full-tilt into rock climbing and ended up becoming her high school’s top climber. With the nickname, ‘Queen of Balance,’ Kirby’s wish is to get a college scholarship for rock-climbing. Her dreams come to a pause when she suffers an injury at a meet that puts her out for the rest of the season. Without that extracurricular, Kirby needs another club to join. She finds her way to the newspaper club, specifically working on a love advice column, because of the extra credit promised. Bex Santos, the person in charge of the astrology-based column, couldn’t be more different than Kirby. She wears crystals, reads tarot, and isn’t afraid to share her opinions loudly to anyone and everyone. Kirby reluctantly helps Bex with these matches, but the more time she spends with her, the more Kirby starts to wonder if the two of them are connected via the stars. Is Kirby willing to go after what she wants with Beth while her church community and her family possibly against their relationship? How will Kirby balance her new life with Bex with her current life with her family and church friends? It’s all on the line.

October’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

Bestsellers Club is a service that automatically places you on hold for authors, celebrity picks, nonfiction picks, and fiction picks. Choose any author, celebrity pick, fiction pick, and/or nonfiction pick and The Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! Still have questions? Click here for a list of FAQs.

It’s a new month which usually means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! Slight change for October 2025: Reese Witherspoon doesn’t have a pick for this month! Instead she is taking readers along with her on tour for her new book, Gone Before Goodbye, that she wrote with Harlan Cobem. Reminder that if you join Bestsellers Club, you can choose to have their selections automatically put on hold for you.


Jenna Bush Hager has selected The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O’Neill for her October pick.

Curious what The Irish Goodbye is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home on the eastern shore of Long Island. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by an accident on their brother Topher’s boat: A friend’s brother was killed, the resulting lawsuit nearly bankrupted their parents, and Topher spiraled into depression, eventually taking his life. Now the Ryan women are back for Thanksgiving, eager to reconnect, but each carrying a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush: Topher’s best friend and the brother of the boy who died. Middle sister, Alice, has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother. Infusing everything is the grief for Topher that none of the Ryans have figured out how to carry together.

When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to Thanksgiving dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family holiday will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive themselves—and one another. – Henry Holt and Co.


Join Bestsellers Club to have Jenna and Reese’s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!

Rez Ball by Byron Graves

Byron Graves’ debut novel, Rez Ball, tells the story of a young basketball player determined to prove to his Ojibwe community that he  has what it takes to take the high school basketball team to the state championships for the first time ever.

Tre Brun, a sophomore at Red Lake Reservation high school, spends any free time he has playing basketball. Haunted by memories of his big brother Jaxon who recently died in a tragic accident, Tre decides he is going to try out for the varsity basketball team. He hopes to help take the team all the way to their first state championship. When Jaxon’s former teammates offer to help Tre on this new journey, he decides this must be fated. With one of his friends filming Tre for a future documentary, his dreams of playing in the NBA become even more solid. At home, Tre is constantly reminded of Jaxon and how much he doesn’t measure up to him, but Tre hopes that using his skills on the basketball court will allow him to match Jaxon’s talent. Tre knows he cannot mess up. The team has almost made it to state many times, but after decades of just misses, they actually have a chance with Tre this year. They have to win state, for Jaxon and for the whole rez.

This was a heartbreakingly gorgeous read. Graves portrays the ugly times, alongside the beautiful moments, but paces the story in a way to keep readers wanting more from start to end. This is a realistic look at balancing grief and legacy while trying to be your own person. As a non-basketball player, I can say that the basketball scenes were very well-written and easy to follow. This is a five star read for me!

This title is also available in large print.

Interested in this book? Rez Ball is the November See YA Book Club pick. We will be discussing this book on Wednesday, November 5th at 6:30pm at our Eastern Avenue branch. For more information about future See YA book picks, visit our website.

See YA Book Club

Join our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists.

Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm. Stop by the service desk for more information.

November 5 – Rez Ball by Byron Graves

December 3 – Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Diverse Romance

When walking the new shelves, my attention was caught on the new diverse romance novels lining the shelves. Diverse romance feature characters from various ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, gender identities, and sexual orientations. Narrowing this list was hard, but below are the ones that stood out to me first. This is only a small list of the new diverse romances available at the library! If you are looking for different titles, let us know in the comments. As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.


Alice Chen’s Reality Check by Kara Loo and Jennifer Young

In this page-turning murder mystery perfect for fans of Dial A for Aunties, a reality TV contestant must fake date her rival as bodies pile up and the show spirals out of control. Can Alice crack the case . . . and confront her true feelings?

Alice Chen doesn’t believe in true love, but she does believe in cold, hard cash. Buckling under the weight of student debt and her mother’s medical bills, Alice will do anything to make bank—even star on Dawn Tay’s Inferno, the hot new reality TV show designed to push couples to their breaking point.

The show is Alice’s chance to sip cocktails on the beach and win a cash prize of a million dollars. But when her fiancé cheats on her with another contestant, Alice is faced with a choice: go home in defeat or fake date the other newly single contestant—who just so happens to be her high school rival and sworn nemesis, Daniel Cho.

But all’s fair in love and reality TV, and Alice isn’t the only one who will do whatever it takes to win. When a dead body turns up, Alice and Daniel are faced with uncovering the secrets of the cast and crew to catch the killer—all while playing the loving couple on camera.

Starring a murder mystery twist, plenty of reality show drama, and a thrilling romance, this debut by up-and-coming Asian American writer duo Kara Loo and Jennifer Young is the ultimate beach read. – Quirk Books


Anywhere You Go by Bridget Morrissey

A small-town waitress and a big-city Broadway press agent swap homes to escape the messiness of their personal lives, only to find new purpose—and new love.

Tatum Ward and Eleanor Chapman lead totally opposite lives. Tatum’s never left her Midwestern hometown. She resides in a quaint guest cottage on her parents’ property while working part-time as a waitress, where she spends most shifts ignoring her feelings for a beautiful regular named June. Eleanor dedicates every waking hour to her high-profile press career, sacrificing personal relationships for professional success, save for the occasional hookup to fight off her loneliness. When both women’s lives unexpectedly blow up at the exact same time, they each need an escape, and fast.

In Tatum’s hometown, Eleanor expects a quiet hideaway where she can recharge. Instead she gets wrapped up in the family drama that Tatum left town to avoid, pulled in by Tatum’s charismatic older sibling, Carson, who charms Eleanor at every turn. Tatum ends up in Eleanor’s New York high-rise apartment with June. One week together in the big city might make it impossible for Tatum to avoid not just her true feelings for June, but her real dreams for her life.

Amid a friendship with a reclusive Hollywood actress and a complicated family reunion, Tatum and Eleanor each discover much more than they bargained for away from home. Their house swap won’t last forever, but it might be just long enough for both women to surrender their defenses and finally fight for the life—and love—they deserve. – Berkley


Dream On, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake

Once upon a time, Ramona Riley was a student at a prestigious art school, with dreams of landing in Hollywood as a costume designer to the stars. But after her father’s car accident, she had to quit and return to her small New Hampshire town, Clover Lake, to help take care of her younger sister. Twelve years later, Ramona is still working at the town’s café, all but given up on her dream. But when a big-budget romantic comedy comes to Clover Lake to film, she wonders if this could be her chance. There’s only one problem—Dylan Monroe, her first kiss and Hollywood’s favorite wild child—is the star.

Dylan Monroe has always lived an unconventional life, having famous rock icons for parents. But she wants to prove that she’s not some chaotic, talentless nepo baby, that she has actual skills, that she’s just a normal person. To do that, Dylan takes on a project at a charming lake town—she even works at the town’s café (very quaint), shadowing a local waitress there (very cute), and asks her to take Dylan around to do Normal People Things.

But Dylan soon realizes it’s not just some small-town waitress she’s getting to know—Ramona Riley is someone she’s met before, someone who remembers her even more vividly. Before long, however, reality hits them, and both women must decide if the spark between them can fan the flames of their individual dreams, or if it will extinguish their light. – Berkley


Gold Coast Dilemma by Nana Malone

During an opulent publishing party, Ofosua Addo crosses paths with Cole Drake for the first time. Their flirtatiously witty exchange culminates in a kiss that etches a permanent mark on both their hearts.

But Ofosua’s identity as a Ghanaian heiress comes before Cole. She loves the vibrant traditions of Ghana’s Gold Coast, and her hand is already promised to a man that even her overbearing mother loves. Yet, when her big Ghanaian wedding transforms from a fairy tale into a spectacle, she’s thrust into a whirlwind of heartbreak and self-discovery.

In the midst of it all, Cole enters her life once again, under circumstances far different from their magical first encounter. Can Ofosua and Cole’s rediscovered spark overcome the weight of tradition?– Gallery Books


If I Told You, I’d Have to Kiss You by Mae Marvel

Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets The Pairing in this heart-racing romance of secrets, spies, and steam.

A few rules for the international superspy:
(1) Never blow your cover.
(2) Never accept the first plan.
(3) Never fall for anyone at the agency. Especially if she’s your ex-girlfriend.

Yardley Whitmer, code name “the Unicorn,” can do no wrong. She’s honed her spycraft and become an instant legend in the field. If only breaking up with her girlfriend were as easy as rappelling off the Eiffel Tower. Living a full-time cover story has slowly eroded her relationship until there’s nothing left but lies.

KC “Tabasco” Nolan, hacker extraordinaire, can crack any code—except the one that would tell her the right moment to confess her secret job to Yardley. Now it’s too late, and she’s in danger of losing the best chance at love she’s ever had.

When an undercover shakedown goes wrong, Yardley and KC discover the unbelievable truth—that they’ve both been working at the agency for years. To salvage the mission, they partner up and fly across oceans, race through winding European streets, and give in to inconvenient passion while hiding in an ambassador’s linen closet. But can they throw away their rules and fight through their secrets to fall in love with each other’s true selves? – St. Martin’s Griffin


Just Our Luck by Denise Williams

Sybil Sweet has always been lucky, but lately she can’t catch a break. After years of bouncing from job to job in search of something that feels right and from man to man in search of something special, Sybil is worried that she’s the directionless, floundering daughter her family thinks she is. All she really wants now is a little financial stability and carb comfort. Lucky for her, she’s got just enough in the bank to buy a lottery ticket, and the late-night donut store is open.

Kieran Anderson put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold to take over running his family’s bakery, and after fighting a losing battle to save the place, he’s exhausted, broke, and no closer to getting back to school. But when a whirlwind of a woman sweeps in late one night, flirty energy gives way to more…until she runs out the next morning, leaving behind her winning lottery ticket.

Lucky for Kieran, his attempt to return the ticket looks like a grand romantic gesture and goes viral, sending sales through the roof. In an effort to keep the store afloat and to convince Sybil’s family she can make good relationship choices, they agree to fake a relationship for three months. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars, finding each other might end up being the sweetest bit of luck for both of them. – Berkley


Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez

Librarian Angela Gutierrez has never been kissed. But after posting a video about her late bloomer status and ace identity, she’s finally ready to get some firsts out of the way. Using her new influencer status to come up with a scavenger hunt idea in which the winner earns her first kiss, Angela realizes she may need some help to pull off the event.

Enter Krystal Ramirez, hot bartender and Angela’s unrequited crush of five years. Despite vowing that romantic love isn’t for her, Krystal seems awfully determined to help Angela pull off the scavenger hunt and find true love.

There’s just one problem: the connection between Angela and Krystal is getting stronger and stronger the more they hang out, until Angela isn’t sure she wants to go through with the scavenger hunt after all. But Krystal is convinced that she isn’t capable of love and before long, Angela realizes she’s falling head over heels for a woman who may never love her back. – Forever


My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner

Elsie Hoffman has been engaged to her college boyfriend for a year and a half. Ginny Holtz has been in love with Elsie for almost a decade and a half.

When Elsie discovers her fiancé already planned their wedding and honeymoon as a surprise and she’s expected to be in a white dress in seven days, she swiftly realizes she’s let herself become too comfortable with a future she never wanted. She breaks things off, and a week later is on a plane to the Caribbean for her non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend Ginny instead.

Ginny thinks it’s high time Elsie learned how to speak up for herself. So, they make a deal with her. For the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants, wherever, however, and whenever she wants it, as long as she asks. They never expected Elsie to want them.

What starts as choosing activities and taking selfies soon turns to toe-curling kisses and much, much more. But what happens when the honeymoon is over?

Meryl Wilsner’s My Best Friend’s Honeymoon is about not only learning to ask for what you want, but for the happiness you deserve.– St. Martin’s Griffin


The Next Chapter by Camille Kellogg

Katrina Kelly might have eight million Instagram followers and a multipage IMDb listing, but she also has a completely stalled-out career and some major questions about her sexuality, which seems to be moving closer to raging lesbian every week. Yet maybe she can solve both of those issues at once. . . . After all, rebranding as a queer icon is a great way to jump-start an acting career.

Jude Thacker is fine. Completely fine, so please stop asking. Has the queer bookstore where she works been taken over by a boss who’d rather sell branded tote bags than books? Yes. Does she have a panic attack every time she has to leave her comfort zone? Maybe. Has she been on a single date since her heart was shattered two years ago? Absolutely not.

When Kat and Jude cross paths in the bookstore, Kat realizes that their meet-cute might just be a meet-opportunity. But what’s meant to be a temporary publicity stunt quickly turns into real feelings for both women. As the media scrutiny intensifies, each must decide what’s real, what’s not, and if true love is worth losing everything they believe is keeping them safe. – Dial Press Trade Paperback


A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell

When an aspiring archaeologist teams up with her childhood enemy for a treasure hunt, they find it impossible to bury their growing feelings, in a charming queer historical romance from the author of A Shore Thing.

Elfreda Marsden has finally made a major discovery—an ancient amulet proving the Viking army camped on her family’s estate. Too bad her nemesis is back from London, freshly exiled after a scandal and ready to wreak havoc on her life. Georgie Redmayne is everything Elfreda isn’t–charming, popular, carefree, distractingly attractive, and bored to death by the countryside. When the two collide (literally), the amulet is lost, and with it, Elfreda’s big chance to lead a proper excavation. Now Elfreda needs new evidence of medieval activity, and Georgie needs money to escape the doldrums of Derbyshire. Joining forces to locate a hidden hoard of Viking gold is the best chance for them both.

Marsdens and Redmaynes don’t get along, and that’s the least of the reasons these enemies can’t dream of something more. But as the quest takes them on unexpected adventures, sparks of attraction ignite a feeling increasingly difficult to identify as hatred. It’s far too risky to explore. And far too tempting to resist. Elfreda and Georgie soon find that the real treasure comes with a steep price… and the promise of a happiness beyond all measure. – Berkley


Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau

Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old woman at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.

Except now she’s reliving the same Friday. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45, and the Wordle answer is always “happy.” Worst of all, any work she does at her job as an engineer? It’s erased when she wakes up. Monday might never come in this workaholic’s nightmare. Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” and a trip to the food stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.

Then she meets good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While the brewery owner seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle can’t figure out how, even when she steps outside of her comfort zone and lives a little. As she grows attached to him, she becomes more worried that she’ll never escape the loop and he’ll never recall her name. And if she does ever get out, can they be together in the “real” world?  – Atria / Emily Bestler Books

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

The Golden Hour by Niki Smith is a young adult graphic novel that deals with healing from tragedy, friendship, discovering yourself, and having hope through it all. This was a difficult, but necessary read. *Trigger warnings for gun violence.*

Coming back to school after spring break, Manuel Soto is dealing with the aftermath of gun violence that happened at his school. None of his friends know that Manuel was present during the incident, something that Manuel would prefer to keep to himself. His therapist has suggested that Manuel find ways to anchor himself when he has panic attacks. His favorite way to do so is through photography using his cell-phone camera. His days are lonely, but when his art teacher pairs him with Sebastian and Caysha for a group project, he slowly starts to open up.

Manuel spends time with Sebastian and Caysha at Sebastian’s house, a grass-fed cattle farm just outside of town. Sebastian and Caysha are welcoming and understanding of Manuel’s quiet demeanor and his panic attacks, asking if he needs help and helping him to find anchors. The more time Manuel spends at Sebastian’s house, the more open he becomes. He spends time photographing the open fields around the house and of Daisy, the newborn calf that Sebastian is raising. When Sebastian and Caysha mention Ag-Club and the local county fair, Manuel is interested, but still a bit shy. Together the three prepare for the fair, while Manuel slowly starts to come out of his shell.

The Golden Hour was a gut-wrenching, yet completely necessary read. The artwork was beautiful, doing a wonderful job portraying the panic that Manuel went through on a daily basis. Manuel is by no means healed at the end of the story, but readers can see the progress that he has made and the promising hope his future now has.

Censorship is so 1984 – Read for Your Rights

Banned Book Week 2025 is finally here! Running from October 5th through October 11th, 2025, the theme for this year is ‘Censorship is So 1984 – Read for Your Rights’. According to the American Library Association, ‘With the escalation in attempts to ban books in libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country, George Orwell’s cautionary tale “1984” serves a prescient warning about the dangers of censorship. This year’s theme reminds us that the right to read belongs to all of us, that censorship has no place in contemporary society, and that we must defend our rights.’

Below are the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 (Descriptions are provided by the publishers.):

1. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
Why this book matters: bit.ly/allboysBR

In a series of personal essays, award-winning author and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue explores their childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia.

From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults. (Johnson used he/him pronouns at the time of publication.) – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

2. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
Why this book matters: bit.ly/genderBR

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.

Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere. – Oni Press

3. (TIE) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Why this book matters: bit.ly/bluestBR

From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner—a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtlety and grace.

In Morrison’s acclaimed first novel, Pecola Breedlove—an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others—prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment. – Vintage

3. (TIE) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Why this book matters: bit.ly/wallflowerBR

The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

A #1 New York Times bestseller for more than a year, adapted into a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson (and written and directed by the author), and an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults (2000) and Best Book for Reluctant Readers (2000), this novel for teen readers (or wallflowers of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life. – MTV Books

5. Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
Why this book matters: bit.ly/tricksBR

When all choice is taken from you, life becomes a game of survival.

Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching…for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don’t expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words “I love you” are said for all the wrong reasons.

Five moving stories remain separate at first, then interweave to tell a larger, powerful story—a story about making choices, taking leaps of faith, falling down, and growing up. A story about kids figuring out what sex and love are all about, at all costs, while asking themselves, “Can I ever feel okay about myself?” – Margaret K. McElderry Books

6. (TIE) Looking for Alaska by John Green
Why this book matters: bit.ly/alaskaBR

First drink. First prank. First friend. First love.

Last words.

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A modern classic, this stunning debut marked #1 bestselling author John Green’s arrival as a groundbreaking new voice in contemporary fiction. – Penguin Books

6. (TIE) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Why this book matters: bit.ly/earlBR

This is the funniest book you’ll ever read about death.

It is a universally acknowledged truth that high school sucks. But on the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he’s figured it out. The answer to the basic existential question: How is it possible to exist in a place that sucks so bad?

His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. Keep an insanely low profile. Make mediocre films with the one person who is even sort of his friend, Earl.

This plan works for exactly eight hours. Then Greg’s mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer. This brings about the destruction of Greg’s entire life.– Amulet Books

8. (TIE) Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Why this book matters: bit.ly/crankBR

Life was good
before I
met
the monster.

After,
life
was great,
At
least

for a little while.

Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble.

Then, Kristina meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul—her life.

8. (TIE) Sold by Patricia McCormick
Why this book matters: bit.ly/soldBR

The powerful, poignant, bestselling National Book Award finalist gives voice to a young girl robbed of her childhood yet determined to find the strength to triumph.

Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi journeys to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.

An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt-then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave.

Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words—Simply to endure is to triumph—and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision-will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life?

Written in spare and evocative vignettes by the co-author of I Am Malala (Young Readers Edition), this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs. – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

10. Flamer by Mike Curato
Why this book matters: bit.ly/flamerBR

I know I’m not gay. Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They’re mean, and scary, and they’re always destroying something or saying something dumb or both.

I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe.

It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone’s going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance. – Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston

“Grief is just a love song in reverse.” ― Ashley Poston, Sounds Like Love

Ashley Poston, a writer of magical realism, has found her sweet spot in her newest romance, Sounds Like Love. Joni Lark knew she wanted to leave her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina when she was in high school to pursue a career in songwriting. Now Joni is working as a songwriter in Los Angeles, where her songs are highly sought after by musicians. Her agent is anxious for Jodi to write her next hit, but sadly Joni is empty of ideas and can’t write. When her dad calls her back to the Outer Banks to share one last good summer with her mom, Joni hopes that she will find inspiration amongst the sand, the surf, and music at The Revelry.

When she finally gets home, Joni is shocked to see that everything has changed. Her mother’s dementia is getting worse, her best friend is hiding something, and her family’s business, The Revelry, isn’t doing well financially. Joni’s hopes of inspiration quickly shrivel, except for this one pesky melody that has been stuck in her head since the night before she left Los Angeles. It’s not just the melody though – there’s a man’s voice also in her head. While this completely freaks her out at the start, Joni slowly grows to enjoy his company. Who is this mystery man and why are they connected? When he shows up in Vienna Springs with a plan, Joni is on board. He wants them to finish the melody that’s stuck in both of their heads in order to sever their connection. Could that be as easy as he says? They’ll have to rely on each other in order to find out.

Sounds Like Love was a trippy read. The idea that the two main characters could hear each other’s thoughts was difficult to comprehend at first, but the rules that the author built into their gifts helped me to believe it *could* have happened. If you are able, I recommend you listen to this book in audio as the narrator sings! The small town beach setting was believable, while I also enjoyed the explorations into the music industry and the different musical elements. While the author does include a character with dementia in this book, she handles this topic with sensitivity. The relationships, both family and friends, were major plot points and helped to carry the story. Solid 4 star read.

This title is also available in large print.

“How do I forgive my past self for all the futures I didn’t become? I don’t know.” ― Ashley Poston, Sounds Like Love

Online Reading Challenge – October

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on fantasy. Our main title for October is She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker Chan. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

To possess the Mandate of Heaven, the female monk Zhu will do anything

“I refuse to be nothing…”

In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.

When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.

After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness. – Tor Books

Looking for some other fantasy titles? Try any of the following.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!