Tag: fiction

Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley

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“You never have to forget him, you just have to release the pieces that hurt. Love is the part of him you get to keep.”
― Kate Bromley, Talk Bookish to Me

Talk Bookish to Me is Kate Bromley’s debut romance novel that is hilarious, yet also sexy. It’s also a book within a book: one of the main characters is an author and excerpts of the current book she is writing are sprinkled throughout. This emotional second-chance love story has a premise that, while I have read something similar before, I felt was unique in its presentation.

Kara Sullivan is a romance author stuck in a rut. Her current book deadline is fast approaching, but she hasn’t written a single word. To add to her stress, Kara’s best friend is getting married in a week and Kara is in the wedding! While at the pre-wedding party, Kara is shocked and infuriated to see her first love, Ryan Thompson, walking in. It turns out Ryan is a childhood friend of the groom and is also one of the groomsmen. His abrupt arrival is the jolt that Kara’s creative writing processs needs. As soon as the two break apart for the night, Kara begins working on her steamy historical romance and is surprised to see that she has actually written workable material.

Kara admits to herself that being around Ryan may be the only way that she will actually finish her book on time (and pay her bills)! Ryan is her unexpected muse and Kara decides to throw herself directly in his path. Even though she needs Ryan to finish her book, Kara isn’t sure if she can stand to be in his presence, given their troubled, murky past. The two push each others’ buttons, but their rekindled romance may be the saving grace she needs in all aspects of her life.

Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

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Megan Miranda is one of my favorite psychological suspense authors. Miranda’s latest novel, Such a Quiet Place, is a twisty, riveting books about a murder that happens in a close-knit and idyllic neighborhood. Megan Miranda loves adding twists to her books and the ones she adds here pack a punch!

Such a Quiet Place tells the story of Hollow’s Edge – a picture perfect neighborhood nestled along a lake where everyone knows everyone else, where they look out for each other. Their closeness is compounded by the fact that many of the residents work together at the local college. This idyllic peace is shattered with the murders of Brandon and Fiona Truett. Rumors begin to spread almost immediately after the bodies are found with residents searching their secrutiy cameras for clues and posting on their neighborhood message board.

Fast forward a year and a half. Hollow’s Edge is on the verge of an uproar. The residents who want to sell their homes aren’t able to, while the Truett house sits empty and haunts them. One spark is enought to send them panicking and that spark comes in the form of Ruby Fletcher. They implicated her as the killer at the trial, but now she’s out of jail and back in Hollow’s Edge for who knows how long.

Ruby’s conviction has been overturned and she shows up at the house she once shared with Harper Nash like nothing has happened. Harper is five years older than Ruby and has always treated her like a younger sister who has lost her way. With Ruby back, Harper is terrified. Why has she come back to Hollow’s Edge, the literal scene of the crime? How can Harper tell her to leave when Ruby has no other place to go?

Ruby’s arrival has the community up in arms. Suspicion spreads through the neighborhood. It soom becomes clear to Harper that not everyone told the truth about what happened the night Brandon and Fiona Truett died. Harper finds threatening notes at her house and realizes that she needs to find out who is responsible before the killer strikes again.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Best Seller’s Club June Authors: Lisa Jackson and Christine Feehan

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Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction? You should join the Best Sellers Club. Choose any author, celebrity pick, and/or nonfiction pick and the Davenport Public Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! If you still have questions, please check out our list of FAQs.

New month means new highlighted authors from the Best Sellers Club! June’s authors are Lisa Jackson for fiction and Christine Feehan for romance.

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Our June fiction author is Lisa Jackson. Jackson is a New York Times bestselling author of more than 85 novels. She also writes the Colony Series with her sister, Nancy Bush. Over 20 million copies of Lisa’s books are in print in twenty languages. Jackson writes a wide variety of genres: historical romance, mystery, romance, and romantic suspence. She describes her books as being ‘neck deep in murder’. She is fascinated by both sides of the criminal system: the killers and their pursuers. She strives to learn more about the minds and motives of each.

Photo by Shelby Kohler Photography

Jackson’s newest book is The Girl Who Survived, set to be published on June 28, 2022.

Curious what this book is about? Check out the following description provided by the author:

In an all-consuming novel of suspense from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson, the survivor of a brutal family massacre must uncover the shocking truth about a fateful night that left her forever marked . . .

All her life, she’s been the girl who survived. Orphaned at age seven after a horrific killing spree at her family’s Oregon cabin, Kara McIntyre is still searching for some kind of normal. But now, twenty years later, the past has come thundering back. Her brother, Jonas, who was convicted of the murders has unexpectedly been released from prison. The press is in a frenzy again. And suddenly, Kara is receiving cryptic messages from her big sister, Marlie—who hasn’t been seen or heard from since that deadly Christmas Eve when she hid little Kara in a closet with a haunting, life-saving command: Don’t make a sound.

As people close to her start to die horrible deaths, Kara, who is slowly and surely unraveling, believes she is the killer’s ultimate target.

Kara survived once. But will she survive again? How many times can she be the girl who survived?

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Our June romance author is Christine Feehan. Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, with 83 published works in seven different series: Dark Series, GhostWalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, Sea Haven Series, Shadow Series, and Torpedo Ink Series. All seven of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list. Judgment Road, the first book in her newest series, Torpedo Ink, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. More than 13 million copies of her books are in print. They have also been published and translated in 14 countries. Christine Feehan writes primarily paranormal romance and urban fantasy.

Christine lives in the beautiful Redwoods near the ocean on California’s Pacific North Coast surrounded by family, friends and several dogs.

Feehan’s newest book is Dark Whisper, which should be published in October 2022. This is book 36 in the Dark series.

Curious what this book is about? Below is a description provided by the author.

Vasilisa Sidkorolyavolkva is a Lycan of royal blood. She knows what’s expected of her, but all she wants is to be out from under her family’s watchful eyes. There is a fire inside her that is building. A restlessness coupled with a sense of growing dread. Every day she feels the weight of the legacy passed down through generations. The prophecy that says a man will come to claim her as his mate and that she will guard his soul. She knows nothing about him, except that he is hers. But nothing seems real until the night she meets him in the flesh…

Afanasiv Belan is a Carpathian, and an ancient one. In all the centuries of his existence, no one has ever affected him like Vasilisa. He can see into her mind and feel what’s in her heart. They are so alike, warriors bound by honor and plagued by secrets. They both know they must reveal the darkest parts of their souls if they hope to survive and protect the ones they love.

But if they claim each other as lifemates it will change them down to the bone. They will become something more — something both of their kinds fear…

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

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Lauren Blackwood is a Jamaican American writer who writes romance-heavy fantasy. Her debut young adult novel, Within These Wicked Walls, definitely falls into that category. This fantasy novel is a New York Times bestseller as well as Reese Witherspoon’s Fall 2021 Young Adult book club pick.

“If I look at all the bad in my life along with the good, the bad would bury the good in a landslide. My spirit, my will to live, would shrivel and die. So, instead, I choose to be thankful for what little good I have.”
― Lauren Blackwood, Within These Wicked Walls

Within These Wicked Walls is a young adult fantasy novel that has definite horror elements.  Andromeda is a debtera without a license. Debtera are exorcists hired by households to cleanse them of the Evil Eye. Her mentor, however, threw her out before she was able to earn her license, leaving Andromeda to scrounge for work. Her only option is to find a patron and she has her eyes set on a job that has proven deadly. Andromeda wants Magnus Rochester, a handsome young heir, to be her patron. He is a rich, well-connected person who, if she completes this job, will be able to vouch for her abilities to other potential clients.

The downside: Magnus is rude and demanding  with a long list of rules that must be followed. He’s also eccentric in ways that don’t make sense until Andromeda gets to know him. The more time Andromeda spends in the house, the more she realizes that this job is nothing like anything she has ever done before. There are manifestations throughout the house, some benign while others are horrifying. While Andromeda works to cleanse the house, she discovers that Magnus is hiding more than she has ever been trained for. Death may be the only option to free the house, but Andromeda is determined to rid the house of evil before any more innocent blood is shed.

This book is also available in the following format:

Historical Mystery Reads: Captain Jim Agnihotri series by Nev March

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Nev March started writing in her teens, drawing inspiration from authors like Neville Shuts, Rudyard Kipling, Mary Stewart, and Arthur Conan-Doyle. Her love of Sherlock Holmes is apparent in her debut novel, Murder in Old Bombay.

In 2015, Nev left her job in business and returned to writing fiction. She now teaches creative writing at Rutgers-Osher Institute. Nev immigrated from India thirty years ago and currently lives in New Jersey with her family. She is Parsee Zoroastrian.

Murder in Old Bombay is the first book in the Captain Jim Agnihotri series. The plot of this book was inspired by the hundred-plus-year-old unsolved deaths of the Godrej sisters in 19th century Bombay. The author wrote a fascinating article detailing this for the website Criminal Element. Let’s talk about the book!

1892: Bombay is the center of British India. Cultures of all sort mix in the streets. Captain Jim Agnihotri is recovering in Poona military hospital from serious injuries sustained in a battle on the northern frontier. With not much to do, Captain Jim finds himself re-reading his favorite Sherlock Holmes stories and pouring over the news in the daily papers. One day, a case called the crime of the century captures his attention. Two women fell to their deaths of the busy clock tower at the university in broad daylight. One of the victim’s husbands, Adi Framji, is certain that his wife and sister did not commit suicide and writes to the paper demanding justice for them. This case fascinates Captain Jim and he soon finds himself approaching Adi and his family searching for answers. Adi hires him to investigate what really happened to the women.

Captain Jim begins his investigation and discovers that the case is full of more secrets than he originally thought. He must chase down witnesses, running across country looking for answers. Asking questions proves increasingly dangerous as Captain Jim shakes out secrets that haunt the Framji family’s past. Each member of the Framji family wants to help, including Lady Diana who insists on getting more hands-on in the investigation. The friendship between Lady Diana and Captain Jim starts to blossom and soon feelings develop. Captain Jim’s personal and professional relationships are in jeopardy the closer he gets to the truth of what happened the afternoon the Framji women died.

If that description wasn’t enough to make you want to read this book, maybe accolades will sway you! This debut novel won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. It was also 2021 nominees for the following: Edgar and Barry Awards, as well as Anthony, Macavity and Hammett Awards for Excellence in Crime Fiction.

Captain Jim Agnihotri series

  1. Murder in Old Bombay (2020)
  2. Peril at the Exposition (2022)

Historical Mystery Reads: The Lady Sherlock Series by Sherry Thomas

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Sherry Thomas is a USA Today bestselling author who has a wide catalog of published works ranging from romance to fantasy to mystery to even a wuxia-inspired duology. Thomas also won the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award twice. Sherry Thomas had previously been known to me through her romance novels, but this past year, I discovered her Lady Sherlock series, which leans towards historical mystery, but has some elements of romance. Let’s get into the first book!

(But first: author photo courtesy of Jennifer Sparks Harriman at Sparks Studio)

A Study in Scarlet Women is the first book in the Lady Sherlock Series by Sherry Thomas. It’s a delightful upside-down take on Sherlock Holmes that I found riveting from the start. As of right now, there are six published works in this series, but we’re going to focus on the first one below:

Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable in society, let alone in her own family. Ladies are expected to be demure, but she has an incredibly inquisitive mind and speaks the truth even when it’s uncomfortable for others. While she has curbed her habits to make herself more attractive to others, there are certain parts of her life that frankly Charlotte doesn’t understand why others would be interested in. As a result, Charlotte makes one particular decision that turns her into a social pariah and that also dampens her family’s social standing as well. She soon finds herself trying to ferret out a living in London, a task that is much more difficult than Charlotte ever dreamed.

When Charlotte learns of three unexpected deaths within the city, her interest is piqued. When both her sister and her father fall under suspicion of murder, Charlotte is desperate. It isn’t fair that her family’s name be even more destroyed. She knows neither of her family members could have committed murder. Charlotte decides to use her intellect to find the real murderer (or murderers). Since Charlotte is a woman however, certain avenues of inquiry are of limits. She begins her investigation under an assumed name – throwing doubt onto the police’s investigation and challenging society’s expectations even if it’s hidden at first. Solving the case falls to Charlotte, as even the police are looking to the ever-remarkable Holmes for help and clues.

This book is available in the following formats:

The Lady Sherlock Series

    1. A Study in Scarlet Women (2016)
    2. A Conspiracy in Belgravia (2017)
    3. The Hollow of Fear (2018)
    4. The Art of Theft (2019)
    5. Murder on Cold Street (2020)
    6. Miss Moriarty, I Presume? (2021)

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

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“Give it time. Nothing you feel is wrong. There will always be a before and an after, and you have to learn to live in the after.” – Rachel Hawkins, Reckless Girls 

Rachel Hawkins is proving she’s a contender among mystery writers with her latest book, Reckless Girls. With this being only her second foray into writing adult fiction (Hawkins had previously written young adult and juvenile fiction), she has crafted a suspenseful psychological mystery that takes place on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Lux McAllister has been drifting for a while. After her mother died, Lux found herself working a job she didn’t particularly like in California. Enter Nico. The minute he walked into the restaurant she was working in, Lux felt he would change her life. Soon enough, the two are living in Hawaii. Nico promised her trips around the world in his boat. Instead the two have been stuck in Hawaii while Nico waits for the money to fix his boat. Nico’s family is rich, so he could ask his dad for the money, but his pride is holding him back. Instead he works at the marina while Lux works as housekeeping at a local resort, hoping to save enough money to fix the boat and sail away.

One day Nico tells Lux that he has met two women who want to hire him to sail them to a remote island in the South Pacific. The best news: they want Lux to come. After they pay to have Nico’s boat, the Susannah, fixed, the four head off to Meroe Island. Their passengers are college best friends Brittany and Amma. They say they want to travel off the beaten path, but something about the two seems off to Lux. After all, why would the chose Meroe Island? The island has a mysterious and deadly history: shipwrecks, cannibalism, and murder have haunted the island for years. It is a gorgeous destination though.

The group descend upon Meroe Island only to discover that there is already another boat anchored just off sandy coast. Living aboard the Azure Sky are Jake and Eliza. They are the golden couple: rich, gorgeous, laidback, and most importantly, their large catamaran has a very well-stocked bar. All six of them immediately click and begin spending their days together exploring the island off grid. Lux finally feels at peace. That peace is shattered when secrets start bubbling to the surface. It appears that people aren’t being as honest as they presented themselves to be. Meroe Island’s exotic locale becomes less and less appealing the longer they stay. When someone turns up dead and another goes missing, emotions run high as they wonder how many will actually leave Meroe alive.

This book is also available in the following formats:

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

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‘What the Collective doesn’t understand is by honoring the past, our ancestors, our cultures—and remembering our mistakes—we become better.’ – Donna Barba Higuera, The Last Cuentista  

Donna Barba Higuera’s newest book, The Last Cuentista, flew to the top of my to-read list when I saw the list of 2022 ALA Youth Media Award Winners. The Last Cuentista is the 2022 Newberry Award winner for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. Donna Barba Higuera was also the 2022 recipient for the Pura Belpré Young Adult Author Award. This book is a top contender for my favorite read of 2022.

The Last Cuentista tells the story of a journey through stars to save humanity as we know it, told through the eyes of a young girl named Petra Peña who longs to be a storyteller like her abuelita. Her parents have hopes that she will be a scientist like them. Petra’s dreams are put on hold when the government realizes that there is a comet heading straight towards Earth that will destroy the planet and all life that lives there. Only a few hundred scientists and their children have been selected to evacuate Earth and head to a new planet named Sagan, where they have determined that people can safely live. Petra and her family are among the chosen few. The only hitch in this plan: it will take them hundreds of years to travel there.

The scientists and their children will be put to sleep while Monitors will watch over them and make sure the ship runs smoothly. While they are sleeping, they will be programmed with different informational courses that will allow them to wake up with all the information they will need to survive on Sagan.

Hundreds of years later, Petra awakens on the ship only to discover that she is the only person who remembers Earth. The Collective has taken over the ship and has hatched a new plan to control, essentially, everything. Their desire is to erase all the sins of humanity’s past. They have purged the memories of all those onboard. If they were unable to purge the memories, they eliminated the person altogether. Petra alone carries all the memories of the past. She isn’t quite sure what to do as having that knowledge puts her life in danger. Petra must find a way to save herself and the stories she carries within.

This book is also available in the following formats:

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

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“It’s not about where you came from. What kind of shit might have happened to you in the past. It’s about who you are. What you do with the opportunities life presents to you.”
― Lucy Foley, The Paris Apartment

The Paris Apartment is a locked room mystery that centers around the people living in a Paris apartment building. Jess needs a fresh start, especially since she doesn’t have a job anymore. After calling her half-brother Ben to ask if she can come crash with him, Jess is surprised that he isn’t there to greet her when she eventually shows up to his apartment building in Paris. He didn’t sound excited that she wanted to come last minute, but he’s family. Ben always keeps his word and would never leave her stranded.

When Jess eventually makes her way inside the building, she finds a very nice apartment that she is honestly surprised that Ben can afford. After all, he’s a journalist who mainly writes restaurant reviews and this is a fancy place. She searches his apartment, but there is no sign of Ben. Time passes and Ben still doesn’t show up. Jess starts digging into Ben’s life, starting with his neighbors. They are a slightly weird bunch, eclectic to put it nicely. Plus they’re not friendly. Jess’s innocent questions about Ben’s whereabouts put them on edge, which only prompts her to ask more questions. Why are they acting so cagey? And where is Ben?

This book is also available in the following formats:

Best Seller’s Club May Authors: Lisa Scottoline and Jude Deveraux

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction? You should join the Best Sellers Club. Choose any author, celebrity pick, and/or nonfiction pick and the Davenport Public Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! If you still have questions, please check out our list of FAQs.

New month means new highlighted authors from the Best Sellers Club! May’s authors are Lisa Scottoline for fiction and Jude Deveraux for romance.

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Our May fiction author is Lisa Scottoline. Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author of over 30 novels. All 32 novels have appeared on bestseller lists. Her first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went, was published in 1994 by HarperColins Publishers. She currently has over 30 million copies of her books in print in the United States, which doesn’t account for the large print, e-book, and audio copies. Scottoline is also published in 35 countries. Lisa and her daughter Francesca Serritella write a Sunday humor column called Chick Wit for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The stories from those columns have been published into a series of memoirs. Scottoline currently lives in the Philadelphia array with her wide array of pets.

Photo credit: Jeff Wojtaszek

What Happened to the Bennetts book coverScottoline’s newest book is What Happened to the Bennetts, published in March 2022.

Curious what this book is about? Check out the following description provided by the author:

Your family has been attacked, never again to be the same.

Now you have to choose between law…and justice.

Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.

Later that awful night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization – and now Jason and his family are in their crosshairs. The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program right away, and they have no choice but to agree. But WITSEC was designed to protect criminal informants, not law-abiding families. Taken from all they know, trapped in an unfamiliar life, the Bennetts begin to fall apart at the seams. Then Jason learns a shocking truth and realizes that he has to take matters into his own hands.

Sometimes justice is a one-man show.

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Our May romance author is Jude Deveraux. Deveraux is the author of forty-three New York Times bestselling books, but has published over seventy novels. She is known for her many stories about the Montgomery and Taggert families. She primarily writes historical romance, mystery, and romance. Currently, there are more than sixty million copies of her books in circulation worldwide. Those books are in print in eighteen languages. Deveraux was recogized with the Pioneer Award by Romantic Times in 2013, a recognition as a pioneer in the romance genre. She loves to travel and photograph all of her adventures. She also likes to box and weight lift. Deveraux currently lives in South Florida when she is in the States.

Photo Credit: Deborah Feingold

Deveraux’s latest book is A Relative Murder, book 4 in the Medlar Mystery series, published in March 2022.

Curious what this book is about? Below is a description provided by the publisher.

Even the closest families have secrets hidden away.

Bestselling novelist Sara Medlar is skilled at sharing stories about other people, but she hoped the truth about her own family would never surface. Her home in Lachlan, Florida, is her refuge and she loves having her niece Kate and dear friend Jack Wyatt together under her roof. The Medlar Three, as they are known around town, have sworn off getting involved in any more murder investigations.

When the sheriff unexpectedly leaves on vacation, Jack is surprised to find himself appointed as deputy. So when Kate stumbles upon a dead body while visiting a friend, the Medlar Three are back in the sleuthing game. Kate also has a charming new real estate client with a mysterious past. He seems to be followed by trouble and that makes Sara and Jack uneasy.

It doesn’t take long to discover that the murder and the new man in town are somehow related—the question is how. When the stranger’s true identity is revealed, Sara realizes her carefully crafted story is about to unravel and she fears she’ll lose Kate and Jack forever. But she desperately hopes that love and honesty will win out over years of lies and deceit. And besides, family is family—even if you sometimes want to kill them.

This book is also available in the following format: