Category: Read-a-likes

Winners of the 2025 Libby Book Awards

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The 2025 Libby Book Award Winners have been announced! As a lover of book awards, I wanted to share some of the winners that are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Check out the 2025 Libby Book Award Winners website for a more comprehensive list of the winners and the runner-ups!

At the time of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions are provided by the publisher.

Winner for Book of the Year — Adult Fiction
The Women by Kristin Hannah

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is over-whelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets—and becomes one of—the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism, The Women is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era. – St, Martin’s Press

Winner for Book of the Year — Adult Nonfiction AND Winner for Audiobook of the Year
The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.

Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.”

At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.

Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late. – Crown

Winner for Book of the Year — Young Adult Fiction
Heir by Sabaa Tahir

An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.
And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.

Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.

Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she’s willing to give up.

QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he’s loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.

Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives—and their hearts. Literally. – G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Winner for Debut Author of the Year AND Winner for Best Science Fiction
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time.

She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as “1847” or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he’s a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as “washing machines,” “Spotify,” and “the collapse of the British Empire.” But with an appetite for discovery, a seven-a-day cigarette habit, and the support of a charming and chaotic cast of fellow expats, he soon adjusts.

Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic, evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined. Forced to confront the choices that brought them together, the bridge must finally reckon with how—and whether she believes—what she does next can change the future. – Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

Winner for Best Book Club Book
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price? – William Morrow

Winner for Best Fantasy
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she hasn’t had to.

She and her assistant, Caz, a magically sentient spider plant, have spent the last eleven years sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. But when a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz save as many books as they can carry and flee to a faraway island Kiela was sure she’d never return to: her childhood home. Kiela hopes to lay low in the overgrown and rundown cottage her late parents left her and figure out a way to survive without drawing the attention of either the empire or the revolutionaries. Much to her dismay, in addition to a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor, she finds the town neglected and in a state of disrepair.

The empire, for all its magic and power, has been neglecting for years the people who depend on magical intervention to maintain healthy livestock and crops. Not only that, but the very magic that should be helping them has been creating destructive storms that have taken a toll on the island. Due to her past role at the library, Kiela feels partially responsible for this, and now she’s determined to find a way to make things right: by opening the island’s first-ever secret spellshop.

Her plan comes with risks—the consequence of sharing magic with commoners is death. And as Kiela comes to make a place for herself among the kind and quirky townspeople of her former home, she realizes that in order to make a life for herself, she must learn to break down the walls she has built up so high. – Bramble

Winner for Best Horror
Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Misha knows that chasing success in Hollywood can be hell.

But finally, after years of trying to make it, his big moment is here: an Oscar nomination. And the executives at the studio for his long-running streaming series know just the thing to kick his career to the next level: kill off the gay characters, “for the algorithm,” in the upcoming season finale.

Misha refuses, but he soon realizes that he’s just put a target on his back. And what’s worse, monsters from his horror movie days are stalking him and his friends through the hills above Los Angeles.

Haunted by his past, Misha must risk his entire future—before the horrors from the silver screen find a way to bury him for good. – Tor Nightfire

Winner for Best Thriller
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon

Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California hoping to find a community of like-minded people, a place where their growing family can thrive. King settles in at once, embracing the Liberty ethos, including the luxe wellness center at the top of the hill, which proves to be the heart of the community. But Jasmyn struggles to find her place. She expected to find liberals and social justice activists striving for racial equality, but Liberty residents seem more focused on booking spa treatments and ignoring the world’s troubles.

Jasmyn’s only friends in the community are equally perplexed and frustrated by most residents’ outlook. Then Jasmyn discovers a terrible secret about Liberty and its founders. Frustration turns to dread as their loved ones start embracing the Liberty way of life.

Will the truth destroy her world in ways she never could have imagined? – Knopf

Check out the 2025 Libby Book Award Winners website for the complete list of winners and runner-ups!

A Love Catastrophe by Helena Hunting

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“Change is never easy, but without it we can’t move forward.”
― Helena Hunting, A Love Catastrophe

Sometimes you just need to pick a book based on what the cover looks like. My latest read picked that way was A Love Catastrophe by Helena Hunting. This was such a fun, cute romance with two main characters whose jobs I had never read about in a romance before: a woman with a cat-sitting/cat-training business and a man who works as a data analyst for an NHL team.

Kitty Hart enjoys her job as the Kitty Whisperer. She is internet famous and is considered an expert on anything feline. Her job: she runs a cat-sitting business! Her latest client is proving difficult though. She has fallen face-first into him, plus he doesn’t seem to be a cat person, which is a major problem.

Miles Thorn isn’t great at first impressions. He is dealing with the fallout of his mother’s latest hospital stay. The news he receives from the doctors isn’t good, which means that he needs to figure out what to do with her house and her Sphynx cat named Prince Francis that his mother absolutely adores. Luckily Miles found Kitty on Instagram. The downside is that Miles isn’t a cat lover, and he especially doesn’t like Prince Francis. Miles and Kitty continue to have awkward run-ins, but their awkwardness starts to turn into attraction. The two spend more and more time together. These forced interactions start out business-related, but turn more personal over time, leading the two to wonder where exactly they are going in their lives and what they want out of their futures.

I adored this book. Helena Hunting wrote these characters with beauty and grace, giving them the ability to grow throughout their personal lives and express their emotions without fear. It honestly felt like their relationship was realistic. I also enjoyed that the third act issue wasn’t a break-up and was instead a business/personal related problem. (Third act breakups in romance are not my favorite). Hopefully other books by this author are similar because I’m looking forward to reading more by her!

Online Reading Challenge – April

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Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on coming of age, also known as bildungsroman. Our main title for April is The Topeka School by Ben Lerner. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

Adam Gordon is a senior at Topeka High School, class of ’97. His mother, Jane, is a famous feminist author; his father, Jonathan, is an expert at getting “lost boys” to open up. They both work at a psychiatric clinic that has attracted staff and patients from around the world. Adam is a renowned debater, expected to win a national championship before he heads to college. He is one of the cool kids, ready to fight or, better, freestyle about fighting if it keeps his peers from thinking of him as weak. Adam is also one of the seniors who bring the loner Darren Eberheart—who is, unbeknownst to Adam, his father’s patient—into the social scene, to disastrous effect.

Deftly shifting perspectives and time periods, The Topeka School is the story of a family, its struggles and its strengths: Jane’s reckoning with the legacy of an abusive father, Jonathan’s marital transgressions, the challenge of raising a good son in a culture of toxic masculinity. It is also a riveting prehistory of the present: the collapse of public speech, the trolls and tyrants of the New Right, and the ongoing crisis of identity among white men. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Looking for some other coming of age or bildungsroman? Try any of the following.

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

Black Queer Horror Titles

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I’m not a horror person (horror movies make me jump out of my skin), but recently I have been gravitating towards more queer horror books. For some reason, I can manage these! I’ve selected a list of young adult and adult horror titles published in 2024 and before. This list features black queer main characters fighting against monsters and the system that they live.

At the time of this writing, all of these titles are owned by the Davenport Public Library. Descriptions provided by the publisher.

The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington

Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it’s a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early—The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by…a demon?

But while there’s no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn’t feel very demonic at all. In fact, it’s downright human—going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle.

Devon has never liked playing by anyone else’s rules though, not even a demon’s, and the longer this goes on, the more she feels Drew and Yaya slipping away from her even as she tries to help them all survive. Can they use their horror movie knowledge to flip the script and become the hunters instead of the hunted? Or will their best summer ever be their last? – Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

The three Maxwell siblings keep their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. When their family moved there, they were the only Black family in the neighborhood. The neighbors acted nice enough, but right away bad things, scary things—the strange and the unexplainable—began to happen in their house. Maybe it was some cosmic trial, a demonic rite of passage into the upper-middle class. Whatever it was, the Maxwells, steered by their formidable mother, stayed put, unwilling to abandon their home, terrors and trauma be damned.

As adults, the siblings could finally get away from the horrors of home, leaving their parents all alone in the house. But when news of their parents’ death arrives, Ezri is forced to return to Texas with their sisters, Eve and Emanuelle, to reckon with their family’s past and present, and to find out what happened while they were away. It was not a “natural” death for their parents . . . but was it supernatural?

Rivers Solomon turns the haunted-house story on its head, unearthing the dark legacies of segregation and racism in the suburban American South. Unbridled, raw, and daring, Model Home is the story of secret histories uncovered, and of a queer family battling for their right to live, grieve, and heal amid the terrors of contemporary American life. – MCD

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy’s iron bullet kills her mother, Venus’s life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother’s killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians.

As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it’s hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.

The Poisons We Drink is a potent YA debut about a world where love potions are weaponized against hate and prejudice, sisterhood is unbreakable, and self-love is life and death. – Sourcebooks

Something Kindred by Ciera Burch

Welcome to Coldwater. Come for the ghosts, stay for the drama.

Jericka Walker had planned to spend the summer before senior year soaking up the sun with her best friend on the Jersey Shore. Instead she finds herself in Coldwater, Maryland, a small town with a dark and complicated past where her estranged grandmother lives—someone she knows only two things about: her name and the fact that she left Jericka’s mother and uncle when they were children. But now Jericka’s grandmother is dying, and her mother has dragged Jericka along to say goodbye.

As Jericka attempts to form a connection with a woman she’s never known, and adjusts to life in a town where everything closes before dinner, she meets “ghost girl” Kat, a girl eager to leave Coldwater and more exciting than a person has any right to be. But Coldwater has a few unsettling secrets of its own. The more you try to leave, the stronger the town’s hold. As Jericka feels the chilling pull of her family’s past, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her mother, her childhood, and the lines between the living and the dead. – Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury

Sunny Behre has four siblings, but only one is a murderer.

With the death of Sunny’s mother, matriarch of the wealthy Behre family, Sunny’s once picture-perfect life is thrown into turmoil. Her mother had groomed her to be the family’s next leader, so Sunny is confused when the only instructions her mother leaves is a mysterious note: “Take care of Dom.”

The problem is, her youngest brother, Dom, has always been a near-stranger to Sunny…and seemingly a dangerous one, if found guilty of his second-degree murder charge. Still, Sunny is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish. But when a classmate is gruesomely murdered, and Sunny finds her brother with blood on his hands, her mother’s simple request becomes a lot more complicated. Dom swears he’s innocent, and although Sunny isn’t sure she believes him, she takes it upon herself to look into the murder—made all the more urgent by the discovery of another body. And another.

As Sunny and Dom work together to track down the culprit, Sunny realizes her other siblings have their own dark secrets. Soon she may have to choose: preserve the family she’s always loved or protect the brother she barely knows—and risk losing everything her mother worked so hard to build. – Margaret K. McElderry Books

Books published in 2023 and before

Readalikes for The Crash by Freida McFadden

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If you’ve been online lately, you may have noticed Freida McFadden gaining popularity amongst psychological thriller readers. A common theme I have noticed in her books is that just when you think you know the end, she adds a twist that surprises us all. Her latest book, The Crash, was released in January 2025. Interested in what this book is about? Check out the description below.

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn’t realize she’s heading straight into a blizzard.

She never arrives at her destination.

Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she’s made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle occurs: she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears.

But something isn’t right. Tegan believed she was waiting out the storm, but as time ticks by, she comes to realize she is in grave danger. This safe haven isn’t what she thought it was, and staying here may have been her most deadly mistake yet.

And now she must do whatever it takes to save herself—and her unborn child. – Sourcebooks

If you’re anxiously waiting for a copy of McFadden’s latest book, The Crash, we’ve curated a list of books by other authors that are similar to tide you over. These books have been published between 2025 and 2023.

All books listed below are owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions are provided by the publishers.

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

Welcome to Eris: an island with only one house, one inhabitant, one way out. Unreachable from the Scottish mainland for twelve hours each day.

Once home to Vanessa: A famous artist whose notoriously unfaithful husband disappeared twenty years ago.

Now home to Grace: A solitary creature of the tides, content in her own isolation.

But when a shocking discovery is made in an art gallery far away in London, a visitor comes calling.

And the secrets of Eris threaten to emerge…. – Mariner Books

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

IT WAS THEIR CHANCE TO GET AWAY, NOT GO AWAY . . . FOREVER.

Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but have boarded the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship.

After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man—soon, the messages become stranger and more erratic. And then the two women vanish. The texts go silent, red flags go up, and panic sets in.

When Stephanie and Jasmine are each declared missing and in danger, it begs the question: Who is Trent McCarthy? What did he do to these women—or what did they do to him?

Twist upon twist, layer upon layer, nothing is as it seems. The Business Trip takes you on a descent into the depths of a mastermind manipulator. But who is playing whom? – St. Martin’s Press

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

Her father was the town detective. Her mother its most notorious criminal. Now the secrets of Mirror Lake are coming to the surface…and changing everything.

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. – Simon & Schuster / Marysue Rucci Books

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French

On the day of Alec Salter’s fiftieth birthday party, his wife, Charlotte, vanishes. Most of the small English village of Glensted is at the party for hours before anyone realizes she is missing. While Alec brushes off her disappearance, their four children—especially fifteen-year-old Etty—grow increasingly anxious as the cold winter hours become days and she doesn’t return. Then Etty and her friend Morgan find the body of Morgan’s father—and the Salters’ neighbor— Duncan Ackerley, floating in the river. The police conclude that Duncan and Charlotte were having an affair before he killed her and committed suicide.

Thirty years later, Morgan Ackerley returns to Glensted with his older brother to make a podcast based on their shared tragedy with the Salters. Alec, stricken with dementia, is entering an elder care facility while Etty helps put his affairs in order. But when the Ackerleys ask to interview the Salters, the entire town gets caught up in the unresolved cases.

Allegations fly, secrets come to light, and a suspicious fire leads to a murder. With the podcast making national news, London sends Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor to Glensted to take over the investigation. She will stop at nothing to uncover the truth as a new and terrifying picture of what really happened to Charlotte Salter and Duncan Ackerley emerges. – William Morrow Paperbacks

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything. – Flatiron Books

The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French

Nancy North is ready to put her life back together. After suffering a psychotic break that ruined friendships, stalled her fledgling restaurant, and forced her to move out of her comfortable flat, she’ll do anything to get back to normal. She and her partner Felix—who has been a saint through her recent troubles—move into a new flat for a fresh start.

Nancy is taking her pills, seeing her therapist, and avoiding unnecessary stress. She’s doing absolutely everything right, but something is still very, very wrong. On the first day in the new flat, she hears them again; the mysterious voices that triggered her first episode. It could just be the unfamiliar sounds of water in the pipes, or the screaming baby across the hall, but deep down she knows something more sinister is going on. Her fears are confirmed when the young woman in the downstairs flat, Kira, is found dead. Felix, her neighbors, and even the police insist it’s a tragic suicide, but the pieces aren’t adding up for Nancy. Can she trust her own instincts, or is it all in her head?

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor has misgivings about her colleagues’ investigation of Kira’s death. The boys club at the top seems intent on closing the case as quickly as possible, especially since the only person who thinks it could be anything other than suicide is known to be unreliable. But Maud knows what it’s like to be dismissed as an overemotional woman and isn’t so quick to discount Nancy’s claims. As tensions reach an explosive breaking point, the line between fact and delusion becomes dangerously blurred, but Maud will stop at nothing to ensure that the truth comes to light. – William Morrow Paperbacks

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast “Listen for the Lie,” and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen. – Celadon Books

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall

Fourteen years ago, the Palmer sisters—Emma, Juliette, and Daphne—left their home in Arden Hills and never returned. But when Emma discovers she’s pregnant and her husband loses his job, she has no option but to return to the house that she and her estranged sisters still own . . . and where their parents were murdered.

Emma has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents died, even when she became the prime suspect. But her presence in the house threatens to uncover secrets that have stayed hidden for years, and the sisters are drawn together once again. As they face their memories of the past, rivalries restart, connections are forged, and, for the first time, Emma starts to ask questions about what really happened that night.

The more Emma learns, the more riddles emerge. And Emma begins to wonder just what her siblings will do to keep the past buried, and whether she did the right thing staying quiet about what was whispered that night: “No one can know.” – Flatiron Books

A Very Bad Thing by JT Ellison

A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder.

With twenty hit titles, and a highly anticipated movie tie-in, celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game. Fans around the world adore her. But on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. And by the next morning, she’s lying dead in a pool of blood.

Columbia’s death shocks the world and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police have nothing to go on—at first. But then details emerge, pointing to the author’s illicit past. Turns out many people had motive to kill Columbia. And with a hungry reporter and frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets won’t stay buried long. But how many lives will they shatter as the truth comes out? – Thomas & Mercer

Similar Books Published in 2024

Similar Books Published in 2023

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

- Michelle Leave a comment

Shari Lapena does it again with her latest release, What Have You Done? a suspenseful, roller coaster ride of a story where the innocent veneer of a small town hides countless secrets that multiply after a violent crime.  Residents of the small town of Fairhill, Vermont love the rural feel of their community, where everyone knows each other and you can count on your neighbor if you need anything.  One fall morning, word spreads quickly that a young girl has been found murdered in a farmer’s field on the outskirts of town.  When her identity is confirmed to be that of high schooler Diana Brewer, a popular student and star athlete, no one can believe that someone would want her dead.  Authorities quickly come to the conclusion that she was murdered and the evidence at the scene point to someone she knew well.

Someone evidently did want Diana Brewer dead.  There are a handful of Fairhill residents who are hiding secrets of their own that involve the murdered student.  As the authorities begin their investigation, secrets start to trickle out with a number of suspects having a clear motive. It soon becomes apparent that the residents of Fairhill have not only their own secrets to hide but are complicit in covering up for the guilty parties as well.  Could the culprit be her boyfriend who was pressuring her to attend the same college, was it an older teacher who was suspected to have crossed the line with his students, was a schoolmate upset with Diana unbeknownst to anyone else or was it someone that no one expected?  When the pressure mounts, trusted family members, friends and colleagues begin to turn on one another and expose secrets and lies.  With the circle of suspects getting smaller and smaller the pressure on the community gets heavier and heavier.  What Have You Done? also has a slight paranormal element strung throughout that adds depth to the story.

Told in alternating narrators (who have questionable motives and reliability), Shari Lapena has an uncanny knack to cast doubt on nearly every narrator’s version of events and that leaves the reader questioning every account.  As someone who reads primarily mysteries and psychological thrillers, Shari Lapena is one of my go to authors that I can count on to tell a intricate story with an ending that catches the reader off guard.  What Have You Done? kept me guessing right until the end with its twists and turns.  A highly recommended read if you are a fan of this genre.

New Spirituality Books

- Stephanie Leave a comment

If you’re looking for a book about spirituality, you may be surprised at all the different types of books that fall under this category. If you’re unsure where to start, I recommend you look at our new spirituality books. Below you will find a list of new spirituality books that have just hit our new shelves. If you’re looking for more, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask!

These titles are currently owned by the Davenport Public Library at the time of this writing. Descriptions have been provided by the publishers.

Finding God’s Will for Your Life: Discovering the Plans God Has for You by Joyce Meyer

Did you ever dream about what you would be when you grew up? We think naturally about our purpose because God tells us that He created us to do great things. But how do we know when we have truly found God’s calling for our lives? Many people live most of their lives striving to find and follow God’s will but still wondering whether they’ve gotten it right. The many pressures, expectations, and distractions we experience can create confusion and anxiety and cause us to doubt whether we are following God’s will or if He even has a plan for us at all.

Beloved Bible teacher Joyce Meyer invites us on a journey to confidence, freedom, and peace through exploring the wisdom of what the Bible tells us about God’s character and about His love and purpose for us. She also offers practical steps to discovering how to build your trust in God, seek His guidance, and overcome the fear of missing out on His best for you.

If you’re struggling to have confidence that you can hear God’s voice and know what He’s created you to be and do, Finding God’s Will for Your Life will leave you with more peace and more confidence to live joyfully in God’s love and walk the path He has for you. – FaithWords

In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife by Sebastian Junger

A near-fatal health emergency leads to this powerful reflection on death—and what might follow—by the bestselling author of Tribe and The Perfect Storm.

For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. “It’s okay,” his father said. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll take care of you.” That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived.

This experience spurred Junger—a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical—to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions?

In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery. – Simon & Schuster

Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart by Brian D McLaren

A deeply insightful exploration of how to live with wisdom, resilience and love in our turbulent times

For the last quarter-century, author and activist Brian D. McLaren has been writing at the intersection of religious faith and contemporary culture. In Life After Doom, he engages with the catastrophic failure of both our religious and political leaders to address the dominant realities of our time: ecological overshoot, economic injustice, and the increasing likelihood of civilizational collapse. McLaren defines doom as the “un-peaceful, uneasy, unwanted feeling” that “we humans have made a mess of our civilization and our planet, and not enough of us seem to care enough to change deeply enough or quickly enough to save ourselves.”

Blending insights from philosophers, poets, scientists, and theologians, Life After Doom explores the complexity of hope, the necessity of grief, and the need for new ways of thinking, becoming, and belonging in turbulent times. If you want to help yourself, your family, and the communities to which you belong to find courage and resilience for the deeply challenging times that are upon us — this is the book you need right now. – St. Martin’s Essentials

The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy by Jim Wallis

It is time says Jim Wallis, to call out genuine faith—specifically the “Christian” in White Christian Nationalism—inviting all who can be persuaded to reject and help dismantle a false gospel that propagates white supremacy and autocracy. We need–to raise up the faith of all of us, and help those who are oblivious, stuck, and captive to the ideology and idolatry of White Christian Nationalism that is leading us to such great danger. Wallis turns our attention to six iconic texts at the heart of what genuine biblical faith means and what Jesus, in the gospels, has called us to do. It is time to ask anew: do we believe these teachings or not?

This book isn’t only for Christians but for all faith traditions, and even those with no faith at all. When we see a civic promotion of fear, hate, and violence for the trajectory of our politics, we need a civic faith of love, healing, and hope to defeat it. And that must involve all of us–religious or not. Learning to practice a politics of neighbor love will be central to the future of democracy in America. And more than ever, the words of Jesus ring, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – St. Martin’s Essentials

More New Spirituality Books

February 2025 Checked In: A Davenport Public Library Podcast Wrap!

- Brittany Leave a comment

In this blog post, I will give you helpful links to area resources, Library resources, and links to the books discussed in our February 2025 episode! If you have not listened to this episode yet, you can listen to Checked In: A Davenport Public Library Podcast online or wherever you get your podcasts!

Romance Tropes!

It’s February and love is in the air! Our hosts shared some of their favorite romance tropes as well as least favorite and gave examples of some of their favorite reads! The books and tropes discussed in this segment are below!

One Bed Trope
– The People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
– Love You a Latke by Amanda Elliot
– The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
Fake Relationship Trope
– A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña
– Funny Story by Emily Henry
– The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
– The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas
– The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
– The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Enemies to Lovers Trope
– Summertime Punchline by Betty Corrello
– The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
– Bad Publicity by Bianca Gillam (publishes in May – check back!)
Grumpy x Sunshine Trope
– Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
– The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
– It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
– My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
Forbidden Romance Trope
– The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore
Arranged Marriages/Honorable Marriages/Political Marriages Trope
– Dark Olympus Series by Katee Robert
Forced Proximity Trope
– The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

 

 

The FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library

The FRIENDS of The Davenport Public Library! The mission of the FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library is to raise funds and manage an endowment portfolio that will provide resources to support the literary and educational purposes of the Davenport Public Library. In addition to all of this, they also operate our bookstores! To learn more about the FRIENDS and how to get involved, visit friendsofdavenportlibrary.org.  

 

 

The Librarians Celebrate Spunky Old Broads Day

Spunky Old Broads Day is a day to celebrate older women for their wisdom, courage, and vivacity, and is celebrated on February 1, but you can celebrate all month long! Below are the titles showcased in this segment!

– My Name is Barbara by Barbara Streisand
– Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
– The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton
– The Marlow Murder Club Series by Robert Thorogood
– The Thursday Murder Club Series by Richard Osman
– Mrs. Plansky Series by Spencer Quinn
– Agnes Sharp Murder Mysteries by Leonie Swann
– Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
– The Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich
– Summertime Punchline by Betty Corrello

DavenportU Citizens Academy with Allie McWilliams

DavenportU Citizens Academy is a ten-session program aimed at connecting citizens to their local government. If you have ever been curious about how the City prioritizes projects or how heavy a firefighters turnout gear is – this academy could be for you!

“I look forward to meeting Davenport’s most engaged citizens in each year’s cohort,” said Davenport Mayor Mike Matson. “Even long-time residents of Davenport can learn something new at DavenportU.”

Each session of DavenportU takes citizens behind the scenes of City government with interactive experiences, tours, and presentations. From community and economic development to public safety and parks, DavenportU participants move around the City to learn about the inner workings of each department. DavenportU concludes with a graduation ceremony at the City Council Meeting on May 28, 2025.

Be sure to apply by February 21st here! 

Show Your Love for Our Library

Davenport Public Library is proud to be supported by our vibrant and diverse community! The resources on this page are intended to make it easy for you to share information about the value of The Library with your friends and family and to advocate with your elected officials and other community stakeholders.
Advocacy is critical for public libraries! By telling others about The Library, you are:
  • Showing how The Library positively impacts Davenport by connecting a diverse community to resources that educate, enrich, and entertain.
  • Spreading awareness of free services that many in our community may not otherwise know about or have access to.
  • Advocating for funding to meet our community’s needs through The Library’s resources.

To get more involved or to learn more about how to share your love, visit our Advocacy Page! 

Black History Month Reading Suggestions

February is Black History Month! Below are some titles that the hosts have enjoyed and hope that you will too!

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
James by Percival Everett
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Becoming by Michelle Obama
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

What Our Hosts Read In January

Beth’s Reads:
The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman Behind the Legend by John E. Miller

Brittany’s Reads:
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Being Henry: The Fonz… and Beyond by Henry Winkler, narrated by Henry and Stacey Winkler
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, narrated by Megan Hilty
The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood, narrated by Sofia Oxenham
A Dish Best Served Hot by Natalie Caña
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey, narrated by Leeanna Walsman
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Stephanie’s Reads:
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, narrated by Michael Crouch
Girl Forgotten by April Henry
The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, narrated by Ocean Vuong
Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, narrated by Lucy Scott
Honey Mead Murder by Dahlia Donovan (Not Available in Rivershare)
Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala, narrated by Danice Cabanela
The Pumpkin Spice Café by Laurie Gilmore
The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, narrated by Jeanette Illidge & Tapiwa Mugweni
On Spine of Death by Tamara Berry

If you would like to listen to our episode, it can be found wherever you get your podcasts. If you prefer listening on the web, it can be found here!

We love hearing from our listeners, please feel free to comment on this blog post, on our socials, or email us at checked.in@davenportlibrary.com.

February 2025 Picture Book Spotlight: Friendship Reads

- Brittany Leave a comment

Happy February! In February, I usually read books about love or hugging and kissing. This year, I wanted to focus on the people that get us through this crazy and beautiful life, our friends. February is centered around love but it is also centered around friendship and who doesn’t love a good story about friends?! Below are the titles that I am sharing in my storytime outreach stops!

You Will Be My Friend
by Peter Brown

Lucy wakes up excited, today is the day that she will make a new friend! After sharing her big news with her mom, Lucy sets out on her journey through the forest to find a new friend who will do cartwheels, have a picnic, climb trees, go swimming, and have a dance party with her! After many unsuccessful attempts at making friends, Lucy is about to give up when she is greeted with an unexpected friend!

Peter Brown is so popular right now with his hit The Wild Robot becoming a box office smash! This story not only highlights Brown’s artistic talent but also how he can make a reader feel all emotions in one sitting! I highly recommend this title and really, honestly, anything written by Peter Brown is going to be absolute gold!

My Best Friend
by Rob Hodgson

Mouse introduces readers to his very best friend, Owl. Owl is so attentive, making sure that Mouse is always fed and is always there when Mouse needs him. In fact, sometimes, Owl is there even when Mouse doesn’t need him. Sometimes Mouse just wants some space and alone time. Oh well, I guess that is what happens when you have a very best friend, they are just always there for you.

This tongue in cheek book has grownups snickering while explaining to children the circle of life. Don’t worry, no mice were harmed in the creation of this book.

 

Fiona’s Friends
by Dr. John Hutton, photographs by Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Fiona, the adorable hippo calf introduces readers to all of her little friends living in the Cincinnati Zoo in this short board book. Young readers will have the opportunity to identify animals that they know (tigers, cheetahs) and meet some less known animals as well!

The photographs in this short story are adorable! My favorite part is at the end, there is a wrap up of all of the baby animals the readers met in the story to help associate names and animals.

Flora and Friends ABC
by Molly Idle

Join the adorable Flora as she introduces readers to the ABC’s through birds! This beautifully illustrated lift and flap book engages readers young and less young!

As I share this story with my partners, it is fun to see the teachers also get excited. We have also learned about some new birds together! Did you know that there is an umbrella bird? So cute!

 

 

Let’s Be Friends
by Leah Osakwe, illustrated by Becky Paige

Friends make everything better. In this beautiful board book, follow children as they share all of the amazing ways friends make the world brighter.

With colorful illustrations, my storytime kiddos have really enjoyed this title!

 

My Best Friend is a Giraffe
by Siân Roberts

In this touch and feel book, young readers are able to engage with the book while learning about Giraffe’s characteristics.

While reading this title, we discussed opposites while touching the different textures on the pages. This is a quick read and very cute!

 

Making a Friend 
by Tammi Sauer, illustrated by Alison Friend

Beaver is great at making things. Exhibit A: he made his own lodge! Exhibit B: he constructed a slide outside of the lodge leading directly into the lake. Exhibit C: he knitted his own stripy socks! What Beaver struggles with is making a friend. For some reason, he has a hard time connecting with others. One day, Beaver decides that he is going to make a friend out of snow and enlists Raccoon for help.

This is a wonderful story of friendship and a great life lesson. Sometimes it just takes connecting with one person to create a bond that lasts a lifetime.

My New Friend is so Fun!
by Mo Willems

Gerald and Snake become really concerned that their best friends are hanging out without them. At first it is totally fine, Brian the Bat is super great and so is Piggie, then all of a sudden, Gerald and Snake begin to worry that their best friends will decide that they have more fun with each other than they do with Gerald and Snake. Intent to put a stop to this new friendship, Gerald and Snake are met with a surprise!

I love Elephant and Piggie books. I love narrating them and I love the joy that they spark in young people!

 

 

Have you read any of these titles? I would love to hear about what you thought of them in the comments!

February 2025 QCL (Quad Cities Live) Book Club Selections

- Brittany Leave a comment

In January, Morgan and I read The Last Love Note by Emma Grey in honor of Thank a National Handwriting Day on January 23rd. Below is a short synopsis of the book.

Kate’s husband, Cam receives a diagnosis with no cure that progresses quickly leaving her a 39-year-old widow with a small son. Quickly in survival mode, Kate jumps into caring for her son, and dives into her new job. Living through her grief every day, Kate finds it hard to move on from losing the love of her life.

When a work trip presents itself, Kate and boss/friend Hugh jump on a plane but end up stranded on the other side of the continent. The first time away from her son, Kate has the ability to deal with her grief head-on and decide where she wants her life to go and who will be joining her on this next journey.

This book gutted me, it was so beautiful and sad and full of hope. Emma Grey dove headfirst into the grieving process and did so with many little snippets of comical relief with mix of beautiful characters.

Morgan and I have a very exciting lineup of book options for February. Below are our 4 options including our winning title: Just Another Missing Person. Feel free to check them out from Davenport Public Library! 

On Rotation by Shirlene Obuobi (In Honor of Black History Month & Women Physicians Day February 3rd )  

For fans of Grey’s Anatomy and Seven Days in June, this dazzling debut novel by Shirlene Obuobi explores that time in your life when you must decide what you want, how to get it, & who you are, all while navigating love, friendship, and the realization that the path you’re traveling is going to be a bumpy ride.– provided by Goodreads

 

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (In Honor of International Day of Women in Science February 11th )

A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them – setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.– provided by Goodreads

 

Mango, Mambo, and Murder by Raquel V. Reyes (In Honor of Galentine’s Day February 13th ) 

Cuban-American cooking show star Miriam Quinones-Smith becomes a seasoned sleuth in Raquel Reyes’s Caribbean Kitchen Mystery debut, a savory treat for fans of Joanne Fluke and Jenn McKinlay.– provided by our Goodreads

 

Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister (In Honor of Missing Day February 20th )

From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which a missing-person case unravels deeper, darker secrets that lead a detective to an impossible moral choice.– provided by Goodreads

 

If you are interested in any of these titles, or have read them, I want to talk about them! Please consider leaving a comment!  

Want to converse with other QCL Book Club followers? Consider joining our Goodreads Group!  

You can also access our recorded interviews by visiting the QCL Book Club Page! 

If you missed the segment, you can watch it here!