A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

“By my reckoning, everyone gets a handful of movie-worthy moments in their lives. Some people would probably pick out their wedding day or the birth of their child for their showreel, but for most of us it’s the unexpected moments life occasionally gifts our way that make for the best memories.”
― Josie Silver, A Winter in New York

Every winter, I say I’m going to immerse myself in winter romances for a couple months. Every December, I prove myself a liar and only successfully read one before I turn back to my trusty thrillers. My wintery romance for 2024 is A Winter in New York by Josie Silver. The cover hooked me at the start, but the premise pulled me in further.

Iris grew up hearing stories of New York from her mother who spent some time in New York as a traveling musician. Her mother’s dreams of becoming a famous musician were sadly cut short, leaving the two to move back across the ocean. After her mother’s death, Iris travels back to New York, determined to restart her culinary career after a disastrous end to an even worse relationship. Leaving her heartbreak behind her, Iris wishes to start over and find the places that her mother talked about and documented in her scrapbook.

While walking the streets of a famous food festival, Iris stumbles upon a gelateria with a door that looks startlingly familiar. She quickly realizes that this door is in one of the pictures that her mother placed in her scrapbook. Her mother never talked about this, except to tell Iris that the man in the photo was the great lost love of her life and that the gelato recipe also in the book must never be shared. When Iris ventures inside the gelateria and meets Gio, she discovers that her past is tied to both of their presents. Gio has a crisis of his own, but miraculously Iris can solve his problem! If she does so, that will bring up a slew of other issues that become more compounded the more time Iris spends with Gio and his family. How far is Iris willing to go to fall in love and find her place in a family? Can she let go of the past?

A Winter in New York is a comfortably cozy romance that travels a whole year in the life of Iris as she travels to New York to rebuild her life. This book is a bit of a dual timeline, giving readers a glimpse into Iris’s past. Seeing Iris blossom from a meek person at the start to someone not afraid to stand up for herself at the end was incredibly heartwarming. Found family and biological family play huge roles in this book, but the closeness found through the holidays reigns supreme.

This title is also available in large print.

2024 Goodreads Choice Awards Winners

Goodreads has announced the 16th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards! This year, there are 15 separate categories that netted 300 nominated books in total. The fifteen categories are fiction, historical fiction, mystery & thriller, romance, romantasy, fantasy, science fiction, horror, debut novel, audiobook, young adult fantasy & sci-fi, young adult fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and history & biography. You’ll notice several returning winning authors to this list as well as some brand new debuts. Check out the list below and add a new title to your to-read list today!

Descriptions have been provided by the publishers or authors.

Fiction Winner

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She’s immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us. – Henry Holt & Co.

This title is also available in large print and as a Playaway Audiobook.


Historical Fiction Winner

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

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


Mystery & Thriller Winner

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet. – Riverhead Books

This title is also available in large print.


Romance Winner (ALSO the Audiobook Winner!)

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right? – Berkley

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


Romantasy Winner

House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied. – Bloomsbury Publishing


Fantasy Winner

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune

A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.

He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.

Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.

But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.

And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.

Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is a story of resistance, lovingly told, about the daunting experience of fighting for the life you want to live and doing the work to keep it.  – Tor Books

This title is also available in large print.


Science Fiction Winner

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


Horror Winner

You Like It Darker: Stories by Stephen King

“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again.

“Two Talented Bastids” explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,” a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man” asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.

King’s ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace remains unsurpassed. Each of these stories holds its own thrills, joys, and mysteries; each feels iconic. You like it darker? You got it. – Scribner

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


Debut Novel Winner

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except…

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present. – Avon


Young Adult Fantasy Winner

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in Divine Rivals.

Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.

Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war. – Wednesday Books


Young Adult Fiction Winner

Heartstopper: Volume 5 by Alice Oseman

Nick and Charlie are very much in love. They’ve finally said those three little words, and Charlie has almost persuaded his mum to let him sleep over at Nick’s house … But with Nick going off to university next year, is everything about to change?

By Alice Oseman, winner of the YA Book Prize, Heartstopper encompasses all the small moments of Nick and Charlie’s lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us.

Contains discussions around mental health and eating disorders, and sexual references. – Hachette Children’s Group


Nonfiction Winner

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt

After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on many measures. Why?

In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.

Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.

Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life. – Penguin Press


Memoir Winner

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop

Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.

Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.

Full of witty insights and featuring a special collection of personal and professional photographs, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down. – Gallery Books


History & Biography Winner

The Bookshop: The History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss

An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations

Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost.

Evan Friss’s history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including the Strand, Chicago’s Marshall Field & Company, the Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over the course of more than two centuries—including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who signed books at Marshall Field’s in 1944.

The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life—and why we still need them. – Viking


How many of these have you read? Do you have any favorites from this list? Let us know in the comments!

The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther

In The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther, Meredith Fox and her extended family have spent summers on Martha’s Vineyard since before she was born. This summer is one filled with big emotions for two major reasons: it’s the first time she has been back since the death of her sister Claire and it is also the summer of her older cousin’s Sarah’s wedding! Meredith knows that she will be swinging through her emotions, but believes she can get through it with her family, friends, and her boyfriends by her side.

Unfortunately her boyfriend ruins those plans by breaking up with her just two weeks before the wedding. Devastated and angry, Meredith comes to Martha’s Vineyard desparate for a distraction in the form of the game Assassin, which they play every summer. This is a family tradition and lucky for Meredith, Assassin will take place the week leading up to the wedding! Meredith is ready to win this game in Claire’s honor, but she has some stiff competition. One of the groomsmen is very cute and very into Meredith (and very into winning Assassin). Meredith knows she needs to be careful around him, but the longer the two are together, the more difficult she realizes this will be.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It was light, fluffy, and romancey, while also dealing with tough topics of grief. It was a relief to see how each member of the family processed grief in their own way and how they worked together to hold each other up in a moment of happiness. Also! Assassin game! Definitely recommend this book!

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Have you ever seen a book cover and thought, ‘I could get lost in that world’? Well I thought that when I picked up my latest read, The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. The shelves of books and purple clouds combined with the shining lighthouse and imposing castle in the background pulled me in, demanding I learn its secrets.

Lucy Hart grew up wishing that her parents loved her. Her childhood was spent alone, the daughter of parents who neglected her to deal with her older medically complex sister. Raised by her grandparents, Lucy spent her childhood finding hope and safety in books. The books that impacted her the most were the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. When Lucy becomes a teacher’s aide, she introduces this series to one of her students, Christopher, when she discovers that he is having a hard time. Lucy and Christopher quickly grow close, leading Lucy to wish that she could adopt Christopher from foster care. She has plans to make their dreams come true, but when life conspires to thwart their plans, she is left at a loss.

At her lowest, Lucy’s life suddenly takes a turn when Jack Masterson announces that he’s written a new book! The twist: he’s only written one copy and is planning a contest on Clock Island for four people to compete to win this only copy. Lucy is beyond excited when she learns that she has been chosen to compete! Winning this contest has the power to drastically change her and Christopher’s lives. As soon as she arrives on Clock Island, Lucy realizes she’s up against more than just the other three contestants. A potential love interest is also on the island, distracting her and intriguing her at the same time. While everyone contends with their own problems, Jack sits in the background, planning twists, games, and clues with almost endless power.

Told from the perspectives of multiple characters, The Wishing Game details characters who are all fighting to find where they fit in in the world. Found family is a major theme in this book, drawing characters towards each other in ways that will change their lives forever. Characters grow throughout this book, showcasing their ability to change combined with their desire to better themselves and their circumstances. I loved the world-building in this book! The fact that Jack actually built Clock Island was so beautiful. The Clock Island series by Jack Masterson sounds like something younger Stephanie would have enjoyed, making me wish that it was real!

“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
― Meg Shaffer, The Wishing Game

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

“This world was a terrible place. It gave you people to love and then took them away before you stopped loving them. It made you mean and angry and cruel to those who needed you most. It ground you down until it was all you could do to get through the day. But most of all, it tried to convince you that you were alone in your suffering.”
― Lucy Gilmore, The Lonely Hearts Book Club

Sloane Parker is a cheerful librarian in her small town. When she brushes up against Arthur McLachlan, an old man with the power to send the other librarians scurrying away, Sloane takes an instant liking to him. She looks forward to Arthur’s daily visits to the library when she can spar and listen to his insults. Arthur’s visits are consistent and regular every day at the same time. When he doesn’t show up one day, Sloane is instantly concerned. When his absence continues, Sloane is torn. She wants to check up on Arthur, but to do so would put her job in jeopardy. Desperate, Sloane decides to check on Arthur to put her anxiety at bay.

When Sloane arrives at Arthur’s house, she is shocked to see that Arthur has suffered from a medical emergency and is not happy with his care home staff. Sloane inserts herself into Arthur’s life and soon realizes that there are other misfits in her orbit and in Arthur’s life willing to intervene. Sloane starts a book club as a form of intervention for Arthur that eventually becomes a safe space for Sloane and her band of lonely misfits. This group of lonely hearts starts to bond, helping each other and making sure Arthur takes care of himself.

Lucy Gilmore has written complex characters with deep storylines and even deeper issues. This story is heartwarming highlighting quality character development and superb writing quality. The Lonely Hearts Book Club is split into multiple points of view which allows readers to learn more about characters’ actions. This book pulled on my heart strings with its incredible insight, easy readability, and sharp wit. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

“We’re all monsters in the end. At least mine lives in the light.”
― Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Assistant to the Villain

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer is a laugh-out-loud, sarcasticly adorable read. Sunshine assistant starts working for grumpy evil villain. Hijinks and bumbling romance ensue.

Evie Sage needs a job. With a father sick with a mysterious illness and a young sister, it’s up to Evie to provide for their family. When she bumps into the Villain, Rennedawn’s most infamous and evil person, in the middle of the dark forest, she is surprised when he offers her employment as a way of thanking her for her assistance. Evie snatches up that job offer and starts working for the Villain immediately.

Normally she would be singing about her new job to everyone she meets, but given that she works for THE VILLAIN, Evie has to keep her employment a secret. Another issue: Evie has a crush on her boss. She can’t help that he’s incredibly hot. His temper and evilness are just screens to hide his true nature from everyone.

This isn’t a typical job. There are people being tortured in the dungeons, severed heads hanging from the ceiling, and a dragon being trained in the courtyard. Right when Evie has finally figured out a routine, she and the boss begin to suspect that there is a traitor in their midst. Tracking them down and stopping his plans to destroy the villain consume Evie and the Villain, bringing them closer together on their mission to destroy the traitor.

Assistant to the Villain was a delightfully quirky read. Conversations are witty, the characters are engaging, and the plot is fast paced. While I knew this book was a fantasy romance, I still found the romance to be unexpected. This is the beginning to a series and I have high hopes for the next books! I can’t wait to see how the characters grow and mature.

This title is also available in large print.

“There is so much that can be fixed by honesty, if you’re brave enough to use it.”
― Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Assistant to the Villain

The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

My latest read is a continuation of my favorite young adult series of all time. The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the first in a new series of the same name. This series takes place in the world of the Inheritance Games series written by the same author. If you want to avoid spoilers, make sure to read the Inheritance Games series first – at least through book 3, The Final Gambit, where the Grandest Game competition is announced. (Confused? Scroll to the bottom of this blog for a list of both series!) Let’s get into the book.

Ok! It’s time for the Grandest Game! This annual competition was started by billionaire heiress Avery Grambs and the four Hawthorne brothers. Why are they doing this? Well Avery inherited the Hawthorne family fortune out of nowhere and honestly it doesn’t feel right to her to keep it all. As a way to give anyone and everyone a shot at winning fame and fortune, they have designed the Grandest Game! The competition this year requires participants to claim one of seven golden tickets – some people find the tickets, while others are hand-chosen by Avery. What do you get when you win? Millions of dollars (and maybe something else).

All seven players have different motivations for competing and are committed to doing whatever it takes to win. What they don’t know is that Avery and the Hawthorne brothers aren’t going to make this easy. Where’s the fun in that? The challenges they have concocted are designed to push each player to their limits. The players may have secrets, but Avery and the Hawthorne brothers know all and aren’t afraid to use that to their advantage. The longer the games advance though, the more it becomes apparent that someone is cheating and working outside the prescribed rules. With their lives on the line, each player must ask themselves if they are willing to risk it all.

This title is also available in large print.

Inheritance Games series

  1. The Inheritance Games (2020)
  2. The Hawthorne Legacy (2021)
  3. The Final Gambit (2022)
  4. The Brothers Hawthorne (2023)
  5. Games Untold (2024)

Grandest Game series

  1. The Grandest Game (2024)
  2. Glorious Rivals (2025)

Fall Festival Romance Reads

Fall festivals are a popular way for communities to come together and celebrate the changing of the seasons with food, music, and fun. For the heroines of these romances, the festival in their small town also leads to love! Descriptions from the publishers.

The Hollywood Jinx by Sariah Wilson

The small town of Patience needs a financial boost. Temporary librarian and aspiring film-score composer Jane Wagner’s plan? Invite movie star Nick Haddon to the town’s harvest festival and stand back for the tourist surge. No one thought he’d say yes — much less that he’d bring a documentary crew to stream his visit. Patience is the perfect stopover on Nick’s journey of self-improvement and his chance to put good karma out in the universe. Spending time with a lovely guide like Jane is a bonus. Jane is falling hard. But she can’t ignore the differences between them. He’s famous. She isn’t. He’s here for two weeks. This is her home. Where can it possibly lead? 


The Inn on Sweetbriar Lane by Jeannie Chin

June Wu’s family inn desperately needs guests, her mother’s medical debts are piling up, and the surly, if sexy, stranger next door is driving away the customers she has left! When he asks for June’s help, though, she can’t say no. After all, his new bar could be just what the upcoming Pumpkin Festival needs to bring in more tourists. Ex-soldier Clay Hawthorne is opening the bar in memory of his fallen friend. June soon becomes his biggest supporter, and while their partnership is supposed to be only temporary, for the first time Clay wants something permanent. Can two opposites really learn to meet each other in the middle? With the fierce attraction between them, will working together be playing with fire? 


The Nearness of You by Dorothy Garlock

Lily Denton dreams about the people and excitement of New York City. But ever since her mother died, her overprotective father won’t ease up on her. She spends her days working at the library and her nights hoping life doesn’t pass her by. At the Fall Festival, tourists fill the streets and the crisp autumn air sneaks in. Professional photographer Boone Tatum’s penchant for trouble is exactly what landed him in this small town in the first place. Yet the moment he meets beautiful Lily and snaps her photograph, everything changes. Lily and Boone’s dream of a life together is thrown into peril — unless Lily finds the courage to stand up for herself and a man she only just met.

September QCL Wrap-Up

In August, Morgan and I read White Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson in honor of Friday the 13th. Below is a short synopsis of the book and what I thought of it! 

Marigold’s mom gets a chance in a lifetime sending her blended family from California to the Midwest. Once arriving, to their new home, the town is not what the family had expected. Their new home is the only inhabited home in their neighborhood and the rest look as if they had been set ablaze and abandoned for years.

Marigold begins noticing weird things about her house and the whispers from her classmates sends her searching for answers!

I jumped feet first out of my comfort zone to read this and am so glad that I did! Jackson does an amazing job writing about tough topics spinning a web that untangles at the end. I don’t ever read horror but really, really liked this one!


Morgan and I have a very exciting lineup of book options for October, below are our 4 options including our winning title! Feel free to check them out from Davenport Public Library! 

Two doors, one yellow, one red. The Switch by Beth O’Leary (In Honor of International Day of the Elderly on October 1st) 

“Leena is too young to feel stuck. Eileen is too old to start over. It’s time for the switch. Ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, Leena escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some overdue rest. Newly single and about to turn 80, Eileen would like a second chance at love. But her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen. So Leena proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love and Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with a rabble of unruly OAPs to contend with, as well as the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – local schoolteacher, Leena learns that switching lives isn’t straightforward. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours and with the online dating scene. But is her perfect match nearer to home than she first thought? – provided by our catalog 

Woman dropping a bouquet of flowers out of a window near a man. You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle (In Honor of Evaluate Your Life Day on October 19th) 

“For fans of The Hating Game, a debut lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy about two unhappily engaged people each trying to force the other to end the relationship–and falling back in love in the process.– provided by our catalog 

 

 

 

Woman holding a fork, a man holding a plate of food. For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa (In Honor of International Chef’s Day on October 20th) 

“They go together like water and oil… All chef Nina Lyon wants is to make a name for herself in the culinary world and inspire young women everywhere to do the same. For too long, she’s been held back and underestimated by the male-dominated sphere of professional kitchens, and she’s had enough. Now, as co-host of the competitive reality TV series The Next Cooking Champ!, she finally has a real shot at being top tier in the foodie scene. Too bad her co-host happens to be Hollywood’s smarmiest jerk. Restaurateur Leo O’Donnell never means to get under Nina’s skin. It just seems to happen, especially when the cameras are rolling. It’s part of the anxiety and stress he has come to know all too well in this line of work. So nothing prepares him for the fallout after he takes one joke a smidge too far and Nina up and quits–on live TV. To make matters worse, the two are caught in what looks like a compromising situation by the paparazzi…and fans of the show go absolutely nuts. Turns out, a “secret romance” between Nina and Leo may just be what their careers need most. Now all they have to do is play along, without killing each other…and without catching feelings. Easy as artisanal shepherd’s pie. Right?” – provided by Goodreads.com 

Puritan woman facing away with a white cap and red dress. **October Book Club Book** Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian (In Honor of Halloween and Spooky Season)  

“From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of ‘The Flight Attendant,’ the enthralling story of a young Puritan woman who marries the wrong man and soon finds herself caught up in the violence and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. – provided by our catalog 

 

 

 


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! 

Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle

“But being surprised by life isn’t losing, it’s living. It’s messy and uncomfortable and complicated and beautiful. It’s life, all of it. The only way to get it wrong is to refuse to play.”
― Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates

If you’re looking for a romance with a slight magical twist, check out Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle.

Daphne’s romantic future has been decided for her as long as she can remember. The universe sends her pieces of paper with a new man’s name and a number written on it. That number is the amount of time the two will spend together. For over twenty years, these papers have been dropping into her life. As she grows older, she thinks about whether or not she will ever receive one with no number, a paper with no expiration date, a paper leading her to her soulmate. Soon enough, she finds a paper with only a name: Jake.

Daphne meets Jake on a blind date at her favorite restaurant. The more time she spends together with Jake, the more doubts creep in. Daphne finds herself struggling with how truthful she should be with Jake. Daphne has secrets that may destroy Jake, but given that his paper has no number, she is still torn. Deciding what to do will change her life forever.

This read was a delight. It was light, quick, fun, and enjoyable without asking too much of readers. While this book does deal with tough topics, the characters aren’t immune to what’s happening. They face their problems with grace and sensitivity while acknowledging that sometimes life is just unfair, but that it’s all in how we handle ourselves. I love how Serle writes. I’ve yet to find a book of hers that I haven’t enjoyed as her writing style is beautiful while also managing to discuss what it means to live and be a human existing in a world full of glorious highs and devastating lows.

This title is also available in large print and as a CD audiobook.

“I often wonder what our responsibility is to other people, how much we owe them. Whose job is it to look out for our own happiness. Us, or the people who love us? It’s both, of course. We owe ourselves and we owe each other. But in what order?”
― Rebecca Serle, Expiration Dates