Category: Read-a-likes

Baseball Romances

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In November 2023, I wrote about an increase in sports romances. While researching new titles to purchase, I kept running across new baseball romances! While I’m no stranger to popular baseball movies (Bull Durham, Jerry Maguire, For the Love of the Game, 42, 61*, The Rookie, A League of their Own, Fever Pitch, to name a few), I will admit that I can’t name as many baseball books, specifically romances. To remedy this, here is a list of five baseball romances all published in either 2024 or 2025.

As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions have been provided by the publishers.

The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson

Daphne Brink doesn’t follow baseball, but watching “America’s Snoozefest” certainly beats sitting at home in the days after she signs her divorce papers. After one too many ballpark beers, she heckles Carolina Battery player Chris Kepler, who quickly proves there might actually be a little crying in baseball. Horrified, Daphne reaches out to Chris on social media to apologize . . . but forgets to identify herself as his heckler in her message.

Chris doesn’t usually respond to random fans on social media, but he’s grieving and fragile after an emotionally turbulent few months. When a DM from “Duckie” catches his eye, he impulsively messages back. Duckie is sweet, funny, and seems to understand him in a way no one else does.

Daphne isn’t sure how much longer she can keep lying to Chris, especially as she starts working with the team in real life and their feelings for each other deepen. When he finds out the truth, will it be three strikes, she’s out? – Berkley

Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno

Taylor and Travis. Jennifer and A-Rod. Marilyn and Joe. When a professional athlete and a megawatt star fall in love, the world is obsessed . . .

With four chart-topping albums, Lacey Logan is a superstar whose life no longer feels like her own. Her every move is photographed, videoed, and dissected online, and her carefully curated Instagram feed studied by fans worldwide. To maintain her privacy, Lacey skillfully controls her narrative, showing fans and paparazzi what she wants them to see.

But when Lacey discovers her boyfriend is hiding two devastating secrets—a bad cocaine habit and a pregnant girlfriend—she begins to lose confidence and control of her own story. Then big-shouldered baseball player Jimmy Hodges, a former Rookie of the Year when Lacey was in high school, walks into the bar where she’s venting to a friend. With his shaggy beard and unfashionable button-down, Jimmy is the opposite of the picture-perfect guy Lacey thinks she wants. Soon, sparks fly and inhibitions go out the window when Lacey dares to take some chances.

Lacey and Jimmy are polar opposites. But could this be the forever after they both need? – Harper Perennial

No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel

Ella Simone’s popstar life is what dreams are made of. Her eight year marriage to renowned music producer, Elliot Majors, has helped garner the hits, awards, and adoring fans to prove it. But when Ella tires of Elliot’s many infidelities, she decides to fight for her independence despite the ironclad prenup that threatens her career.

To help her case, Ella is under strict orders to stick to The Plan: no headlines, no rumors, no rocking the boat. But this strategy is thrown a curveball after an awards show wardrobe snafu and quick rescue by Miles Westbrook, MLB’s most eligible player, sends the tabloids into a frenzy. Amid tricky divorce proceedings, Ella’s magnetic connection with the charismatic pitcher might just be her downfall.

Now the pressure is on to turn a scandal into an opportunity and give their teams what they want: a picture-perfect performance that will shore up both Ella and Miles’ reputations. But as the lines between reality and PR begin to blur, Ella will either stick to the choreographed life she knows so well, or surrender to a love that could set her free. – Berkley

The Prospects by KT Hoffman

Minor leagues. Major chemistry.

Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.

Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis inspires.

This triumphant debut romance reveals what’s possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences. – Dial Press Trade Paperback

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough. – Avon

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

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“You know, if mankind has one universal superpower, it’s gaslighting women into thinking they’re the problem.”
― Ally Carter, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

Have you ever read a book that you’re not quite sure which genre it falls into? Such was my last read, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter. (Did you know that Ally Carter is the pen name for author Sarah Leigh Fogelman? I sure didn’t until I read this book.)

Maggie Chase has hated Ethan Wyatt for as long as she’s known him. She’s a cozy mystery writer, while he is a thriller writer known for his leather jackets. The two mix like oil and water, especially when Maggie overhears Ethan make a comment about her at a holiday party. When her agent hands Maggie an invitation to her biggest fan’s home for the holidays, Maggie reluctantly agrees and boards the plane. Maggie realizes she wasn’t the only author invited, but is trapped until the plane touches down. More people are there than she expected, plus her anonymous fan seems to be hiding secrets. Day two of the trip takes a turn when someone goes missing from a locked room in the midst of a brutal winter storm. Maggie spots clues and starts wondering if something bigger is happening behind the scenes. Who can she trust? How did the missing person disappear? Is she trapped in a mansion with a killer?

The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year is described as Knives Out with a rom-com twist, and honestly I’ve never read anything more apt. I absolutely adored this book. Seeing Maggie and Ethan’s relationship progress over the years through flashbacks and from both of their points-of-view was a breath of fresh air. Romance tropes, plus mystery elements, abound in this novel. Rivals-to-lovers AND a locked room mystery? My favorites! There were some plot points that I still have questions about, but I’ll have to let them go as this is a standalone. Four of five stars!

This title is also available in large print.

“so . . . Summers were the worst. Or the best?” She honestly didn’t know. “Because I had two things: a library card and time.”
― Ally Carter, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year

Science Fiction Fantasy Books about Reincarnation

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Have you ever discussed a topic that has stuck with you for months, leading you down a research hole to learn more? At one of the Library’s Death Cafe programs, we had discussed reincarnation. Fascinated with the topic, but wanting to look into some fiction representations before I went the nonfiction route, I started compiling a list of science fiction and fantasy books about reincarnation. Below are some of these titles. As of this writing, these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions have been provided by the publisher.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

“What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?”

In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor—but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue.

In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead.

And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before.

Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them.

As their many lives intertwine, they begin to realize the power of their undying love—a power that transcends time itself…but one that might consume them both. – MIRA

Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera

Some stories take more than one lifetime to tell. There are wrongs that echo through the ages, friendships that outpace the claws of death, loves that leave their mark on civilization, and promises that nothing can break. This is one such story.

Annelid and Leveret met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. They found each other in a torn-up nation, peering through propaganda to grasp a deeper truth. And in a demon-haunted wood, another act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey throughout the ages. No world can hold them, no life can bind them, and they’ll never leave each other behind.

Tracing two souls through endless lifetimes, Rakesfall is a virtuosic exploration of what stories can be. As Annelid and Leveret reincarnate ever deeper into the future, they will chase the edge of human possibility in a dark science fiction epic unlike anything you’ve read before. – Tordotcom

Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore

First we live. Then we die. And then . . . we get another try?

Ten thousand tries, to be exact. Ten thousand lives to “get it right.” Answer all the Big Questions. Achieve Wisdom. And Become One with Everything.

Milo has had 9,995 chances so far and has just five more lives to earn a place in the cosmic soul. If he doesn’t make the cut, oblivion awaits. But all Milo really wants is to fall forever into the arms of Death. Or Suzie, as he calls her.

More than just Milo’s lover throughout his countless layovers in the Afterlife, Suzie is literally his reason for living—as he dives into one new existence after another, praying for the day he’ll never have to leave her side again.

But Reincarnation Blues is more than a great love story: Every journey from cradle to grave offers Milo more pieces of the great cosmic puzzle—if only he can piece them together in time to finally understand what it means to be part of something bigger than infinity. Darkly enchanting and wisely hilarious, Michael Poore’s Reincarnation Blues is the story of everything that makes life profound, beautiful, absurd, and heartbreaking. – Del Rey

Brighter Than the Sun by Daniel Aleman

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Sixteen-year-old Sol spends her life divided between two countries. She lives in her hometown of Tijuana, Mexico with her family, but makes the trip across the border early every weekday to go to school in the United States. Sol’s dream is to be the first person in her family to go to college, so even though her life is exhausting, she keeps trekking between Mexico and the United States to keep her dream alive.

The family has hit some rough times, throwing Sol’s dreams into question. With her mother’s recent death, Sol and her family are struggling to keep the family restaurant afloat. The restaurant was her mother’s dream, but her father and oldest brother are running into difficulties. Needing a way to add income to the family, Sol picks up a part-time job in San Diego. Doing this means that she has to move in with her friend in the United States, only coming back to Tijuana on the weekends. This new job adds complications to her life. Her schedule becomes more chaotic, her schoolwork suffers, and her relationships deteriorate.

Sol has to decide what she wants out of life. Although she has goals to attend college, she feels a debt to her family that she must repay. Although she is only 17, the pressure she feels to succeed and provide for her family is immense. Her future is in limbo, her present is a mess, and her past continues to haunt her. What is Sol willing to risk to help her family make it through?

Brighter Than the Sun by Daniel Aleman was a heartbreaking and exhausting read. Although this is a young adult book, the story will resonate with people of all ages.

Interested in this book? Brighter Than the Sun is the June 2025 See YA Book Club selection. We will be discussing this book on Wednesday, June 4th 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.

June 4 – ‘Brighter than the Sun’ by Daniel Aleman

July 2 – The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

August 6 – Red Rising by Pierce Brown

September 3 – Man O’War by Cory McCarthy

October 1 – A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

November 5 – Rez Ball by Byron Graves

December 3 – Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow

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“Stories aren’t for shocking, in my opinion. They’re for chewing on longer than you would a meal. That’s not to say things you tell about don’t come as a surprise, and sometimes the things you tell about suck. But it’s what you do with what sucks that makes it worth listening to, or not.”
― Kenneth M. Cadow, Gather

Ian Gray knows the woods in rural Vermont better than he knows the town. He lives on land that has been in his family for generations. Ian spent his younger years walking through the woods with his grandfather, learning anything and everything about the nature around him. Growing up with his grandparents and his parents in the same house afforded Ian the privilege to learn from many adults, but then the troubles started.

While outside one day cracking nuts, Ian is startled by the bark of a large dog that has walked into his yard and is standing right by him. Ian isn’t supposed to have a dog, but since this one has showed up, he figures he may as well keep him. The issue is his mom. Ian names the dog Gather and stows him in the back shed, hoping to keep him hidden for as long as possible. Ian is glad Gather has come into his life since he has to help his mom defeat her opioid addiction and find a job. He also had to quit the basketball team because getting to school on a timely basis is proving hard. The house is in disrepair, not a lot of money is coming in, plus his grandpa died, his grandma moved away, and his dad left too. Ian won’t let his mom down though. He makes friends, finds a job, spends time outdoors, and is able to put his skills fixing things to use by finding more work helping his neighbors.

Right when it seems like he has everything worked out, it all splinters apart. Tragedy rocks Ian, leaving him and Gather with only one choice: to go on the run. Desperate to escape a future that would separate them from each other and would force Ian to lose his land and the house forever, Ian and Gather take to the woods. Their new isolation has Ian wondering who cares for him. What will their futures look like? Even if someone actually helped him, would he be able to return his home and land?

This emotional and hopeful story had me on the edge of my seat. The chapters are short, but I took my time to absorb all the tragedy and confusion Ian goes through every day. He is forced to grow up too quickly, but he is incredibly resourceful and capable when it comes to finding ways to survive. This book taught me about how resilient one can be in the face of unimaginable hardships. I recommend you read this book, but be sure to go in with an understanding and careful heart. This story will pull at your heartstrings the whole read.

“You want my voice, but you want my voice to be out there using somebody else’s rules, somebody else’s voice. Otherwise, they ignore me. Isn’t that what you call censorship or oppression or whatever? Don’t you see how screwed up that is?”
― Kenneth M. Cadow, Gather

Tea and Treachery : a Tea by the Sea Mystery by Vicki Delany

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Tea & Treachery is the first book in the Tea by the Sea Mystery Series by Vicki Delany.  Delany is a powerhouse in the genre of cozy mystery writing with many unique and interesting reads.  She has about a half dozen series under her belt, and you can always count on her for a fun, yet complex cozy mystery!  I was looking to start a new series and came upon Delany’s latest, and I am glad that I did.

Lily Roberts is the proprietor of the quaint tea shop, Tea by the Sea, in picturesque Cape Cod.  In this vacation mecca, Roberts stays busy with the shop thanks in part to her grandmother’s Victorian B&B next door where her tea is a hit with guests.  Her grandmother, Rose, has inspired much in Lily’s life, especially the tea shop whose British theme pays homage to Rose’s homeland.  Rose is feisty, sassy and holds no opinion back.  One of Lily’s main jobs is reining in her grandmother and keeping her out of trouble!

Both the tea shop and the B&B rely on summer tourism to keep the doors open.  A real estate developer named Jack Ford arrives in town and hints that he will be purchasing the adjacent land to the shop and B&B.  His purchase of the adjacent land would turn it into a large complex with a golf course.  With this news, Rose goes on the offense and prepares to battle against the development.  Developer Jack Ford will hear none of the objections from Lily, Rose and the other residents who fear the new development will change the charm of the cape.  Tempers flare and words are exchanged between Rose and Jack with both drawing a line in the sand.

Everything soon changes when Jack is found dead at the bottom of the beach access stairs on Rose’s property!  Law enforcement knows that she had a motive to want Jack Ford dead.  Lily steps in and plays intermediary with the police when Rose is questioned as a suspect.  After the police release Rose after questioning, Lily knows that things aren’t looking good for her grandmother and time is of the essence for her to find the real killer!

This series has a bit of everything – a beautiful setting, a fun cast of characters (especially entertaining is the banter between Lily and Rose), an interesting “who done it” and scrumptious descriptions of food and tea!  If you are looking for a new cozy series, think about Tea by the Sea!

Online Reading Challenge – May

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Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on graphic novels. Our main title for May is Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the coming-of-age story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.

Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love. – Pantheon

Looking for some other graphic novels? Try any of the following.

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

Readalikes for Three Days in June

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If you’re anxiously waiting to read Anne Tyler’s newest novel, Three Days in June, I have gathered a list of readalikes to tide you over. This literary fiction tackles the challenges of love, the complexities of human relationships, and the ups and downs of marriage and family. Curious what Three Days in June is about? Check out the description below and then move on to our recommended readalikes.

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit.

But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.

Told with deep sensitivity and a tart sense of humor, full of the joys and heartbreaks of love and marriage and family life, Three Days in June is a triumph, and gives us the perennially bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning writer at the height of her powers. – Knopf

As of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

2024 Books

After Annie by Anna Quindlen

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her children, and her closest friend are left to find a way forward without the woman who has been the lynchpin of all their lives. Bill is overwhelmed without his beloved wife, and Annemarie wrestles with the bad habits her best friend had helped her overcome. And Ali, the eldest of Annie’s children, has to grow up overnight, to care for her younger brothers and even her father and to puzzle out for herself many of the mysteries of adult life.

Over the course of the next year what saves them all is Annie, ever-present in their minds, loving but not sentimental, caring but nobody’s fool, a voice in their heads that is funny and sharp and remarkably clear. The power she has given to those who loved her is the power to go on without her. The lesson they learn is that no one beloved is ever truly gone.

Written in Quindlen’s emotionally resonant voice and with her deep and generous understanding of people, After Annie is about hope, and about the unexpected power of adversity to change us in profound and indelible ways. – Random House

This title is available in large print and CD audiobook.

I’ll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman

A modern and classic story of family, with I’ll Come to You, beloved author Rebecca Kauffman explores overlapping narratives involving a couple whose struggle to become pregnant has both softened and hardened them, a woman whose husband of forty years has left her for reasons he’s unwilling to share and the man who is now disastrously attempting to woo her, a couple in denial about a looming health crisis, and their son who is fumbling toward middle age and can’t stop lying. Ultimately, these storylines crescendo and converge into a dramatic and harrowing turn of events. With heart, wit, and courage, and through pain, these characters traverse territory that both challenges and defines the bonds of family.

Sweeping yet compact, I’ll Come to You investigates themes of intimacy, memory, loss, grief, and reconciliation, and the wonder, terror, frustration, fear, and magic of brushing up against the unknowable—both around us and within us. – Counterpoint

Rental House by Weike Wang

Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection (“To use a dishwasher is to admit defeat,” says her father), while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife.

Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate, and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together? – Riverhead Books

This title is also available in large print.

The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter

Brooklyn, 2020. Theo Harper and his pregnant wife, Darla, head upstate to their summer cottage to wait out the lockdown. Not everyone in their upscale Park Slope building has this privilege: not Xavier, the teenager in the Cardi B T-shirt, nor Darla’s best friend, Ruby, and her partner, Katsumi, who stay behind to save their Michelin-starred restaurant.

During an upstate hike on the aptly named Devil’s Path, Theo divulges a long-held secret—and when Darla disappears after the ensuing argument, he finds himself the prime suspect. As Darla’s and Theo’s families and friends come together to search for her, with Ruby and Katsumi stepping in to broker peace, past and present collide with startling consequences.

Set against the pulse of an ever-changing city, The Rich People Have Gone Away connects the lives of ordinary New Yorkers to tell a powerful story of hope, love, and inequity in our times—while reminding us that no one leaves the past behind completely. – Hogarth

Same as it ever was by Claire Lombardo

After a youth marked by upheaval and emotional turbulence, Julia resides on the placid plateau of her mid-50s. But Julia has never navigated the world with the equanimity of her current privileged class. Having nearly derailed herself several times, making desperate bids for the kind of connection that always felt inaccessible to her, she believes she has a firm handle on things.

She’s unprepared, though, for a surprise announcement from her straight-arrow son, an impending separation from her spikey teenaged daughter, and a seductive resurgence of the past, all of which place her on the kind of razor’s edge that she knows all too well.

Same As It Ever Was traverses the rocky terrain of real life, exploring maternal ambivalence, intergenerational friendship, and the happenstantial cause-and-effect that governs us all. Delving into the core of relationships—how they grow, change, and sometimes end—Lombardo proves herself a true and definitive cartographer of the human heart and is, without doubt, among the finest novelists of her generation. – Vintage

This title is also available in large print.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It’s one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves. – Harper Perennial

This title is also available in large print.

Shred Sisters by Betsy Lerner

It is said that when one person in a family is unstable, the whole family is destabilized. Meet the Shreds. Olivia is the sister in the spotlight until her stunning confidence becomes erratic and unpredictable, a hurricane leaving people wrecked in her wake. Younger sister Amy, cautious and studious to the core, believes in facts, proof, and the empirical world. None of that explains what’s happening to Ollie, whose physical beauty and charisma mask the mental illness that will shatter Amy’s carefully constructed life.

As Amy comes of age and seeks to find her place—first in academics, then New York publishing, and through a series of troubled relationships—every step brings collisions with Ollie, who slips in and out of the Shred family without warning. Yet for all that threatens their sibling bond, Amy and Ollie cannot escape or deny the inextricable sister knot that binds them.

Spanning two decades, Shred Sisters is an intimate and bittersweet story exploring the fierce complexities of sisterhood, mental health, loss and love. If anything is true it’s what Amy learns on her road to self-acceptance: No one will love you more or hurt you more than a sister. – Grove Press

2025 Books

Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson

When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well.

The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get.

So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future. – Ballantine Books

This title is also available in large print.

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Homeseeking follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history as war, famine, and opportunity take them separately to the song halls of Hong Kong, the military encampments of Taiwan, the bustling streets of New York, and sunny California, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives. Throughout, Haiwen holds his memories close while Suchi forces herself to look only forward, neither losing sight of the home they hold in their hearts. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family. – Pamela Dorman Books

This title is also available in large print and Playaway audiobook.

Arthurian-Related Fantasy Books

- Stephanie Leave a comment

One of my go-to subjects to read about is anything to do with the legend of King Arthur. The stories and legends surrounding King Arthur and his knights has always fascinated me. My latest re-read, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, had me scrambling for more fantasy reads related to the legend of King Arthur. Below you will find five Arthurian-related fantasy books owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions are provided by the publisher.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight. – Margaret K. McElderry Books

Spear by Nicola Griffith

She left all she knew to find who she could be . . .

She grows up in the wild wood, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake drift to her on the spring breeze, scented with promise. And when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she decides her future lies at his court. So, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and sets out on her bony gelding for Caer Leon.

With her stolen hunting spear and mended armour, she is an unlikely hero, not a chosen one, but one who forges her own bright path. Aflame with determination, she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust and fights to death. On her adventures, she will steal the hearts of beautiful women, fight warriors and sorcerers, and make a place to call home.

The legendary author of Hild returns with an unforgettable hero and a queer Arthurian masterpiece for the modern era. Nicola Griffith’s Spear is a spellbinding vision of the Camelot we’ve longed for, a Camelot that belongs to us all. – Tordotcom

Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices edited by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington

From the vast lore surrounding King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table, comes an anthology of gender-bent, race-bent, LGBTQIA+ inclusive retellings.

Featuring stories by: Alexander Chee • Preeti Chhibber • Roshani Chokshi • Sive Doyle • Maria Dahvana Headley • Ausma Zehanat Khan • Daniel M. Lavery • Ken Liu • Sarah MacLean • Silvia Moreno-Garcia • Jessica Plummer • Anthony Rapp • Waubgeshig Rice • Alex Segura • Nisi Shawl • S. Zainab Williams

Here you’ll find the Lady of the Lake reimagined as an albino Ugandan sorceress and the Lady of Shalott as a wealthy, isolated woman in futuristic Mexico City; you’ll see Excalibur rediscovered as a baseball bat that grants a washed-up minor leaguer a fresh shot at glory and as a lost ceremonial drum that returns to a young First Nations boy the power and the dignity of his people. There are stories set in Gilded Age Chicago, ’80s New York, twenty-first century Singapore, and space; there are lesbian lady knights, Arthur and Merlin reborn in the modern era for a second chance at saving the world and falling in love—even a coffee shop AU.

Brave, bold, and groundbreaking, the stories in Sword Stone Table will bring fresh life to beloved myths and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in their favorite legends. – Vintage

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

T. H. White’s masterful retelling of the saga of King Arthur is a fantasy classic as legendary as the sword Excalibur and city of Camelot that are found within its pages. This magical epic takes Arthur from the glorious lyrical phase of his youth, through the disillusioning early years of his reign, to maturity when his vision of the Round Table develops into the search for the Holy Grail, and finally to his weary old age. With memorable characters like Merlin and Owl and Guinevere, beasts who talk and men who fly, wizardry and war, The Once and Future King has become the fantasy masterpiece against which all others are judged, a poignant story of adventure, romance, and magic that has enchanted readers for generations. – Putnam

The Winter Knight by Jes Battis

Arthurian legends are reborn in this upbeat queer urban fantasy with a mystery at its heart

The knights of the round table are alive in Vancouver, but when one winds up dead, it’s clear the familiar stories have taken a left turn. Hildie, a Valkyrie and the investigator assigned to the case, wants to find the killer — and maybe figure her life out while she’s at it. On her short list of suspects is Wayne, an autistic college student and the reincarnation of Sir Gawain, who these days is just trying to survive in a world that wasn’t made for him. After finding himself at the scene of the crime, Wayne is pulled deeper into his medieval family history while trying to navigate a new relationship with the dean’s charming assistant, Bert — who also happens to be a prime murder suspect. To figure out the truth, Wayne and Hildie have to connect with dangerous forces: fallen knights, tricky runesmiths, the Wyrd Sisters of Gastown. And a hungry beast that stalks Wayne’s dreams.

The Winter Knight is a propulsive urban fairy tale and detective story with queer and trans heroes that asks what it means to be a myth, who gets to star in these tales, and ultimately, how we make our stories our own. – ECW Press

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman

- Stephanie Leave a comment

All the Other Mothers Hate Me by Sarah Harman is the story of Florence Grimes, a broke single mother living in West London trying to figure out what to do with her life. Florence thought she had everything figured out. She was a member of a girl-band, but her career ended in scandal and humiliation. Now she lives in West London with her ten-year-old son Dylan. She spends her says laying on the couch, shuffling Dylan to and from school, and occasionally selling balloon arrangements to wealthy mothers.

When Dylan heads out to a field trip, Florence thinks it’s just another day until the school group chat blows up on her phone. One of the students has gone missing! Alfie, Dylan’s bully and heir to a massive frozen-food fortune, has disappeared while on the field trip. At first Florence is relieved when it isn’t Dylan who has gone missing, but her relief twists into terror when Dylan becomes the police’s main suspect. He couldn’t have done something so heinous, right? Except… Florence starts to think that maybe he could have. Dylan has always been a bit strange, plus Alfie was horrible to him. Maybe Dylan just snapped.

In order to clear Dylan’s name, Florence must find Alfie. She can’t lose Dylan. He is her only reason for living. Florence teams up with another school mom, but Florence has no useful skills to actually solve this crime. Needing to save Dylan and prove her doubts false, Florence has to dive into uncomfortable situations and behave like a responsible grown-up for once.

I checked out this book for two reasons: 1) the cover and 2) this quote, “The missing boy is 10-year-old Alfie Risby, and to be perfectly honest with you, he’s a little shit.” A grown-up describing a kid as a little shit cracked me up, so I knew I would enjoy this book. Florence is erratic and chaotic, while this book is full of dark humor and messy characters struggling to survive daily life. Florence tries to be an amateur sleuth and solve Alfie’s disappearance, but she is oh so very bad at it. After all the cozy mysteries I have read where non-police decide to solve crimes and are successful, it was nice to read about a woman who is a fumbling disaster.

This title is also available in large print.