Now that it’s possible to get physical library books again, I thought I would take a quick look at the most popular new fiction in our catalog. These four books are recent purchases at Mead, and as of writing this post, they were all available for checkout without a waitlist. The descriptions below are pulled from our catalog.

Beach Haven by T. I. Lowe

Free-spirited Opal Gilbert seems to have everything she needs to keep living a happy life in Sunset Cove as she refurbishes vintage furniture to sell at her funky ocean-side boutique, Bless This Mess. Until Lincoln Cole, a new-to-town ex-Marine nursing deep wounds and harboring hurts he can’t seem to shake, wanders into her shop.

A Beautiful Arrangement by Beth Wiseman

Lydia can’t believe she is Mrs. Samuel Bontrager, or that she has a six month old daughter at the age of 16. As baby Mattie grows fussy by the day, Lydia wonders how she will survive a lifetime of marriage to a man she doesn’t love, at least not in the way she wants. Samuel knows that he and Lydia did the right thing by marrying when Lydia became pregnant. He has even grown to love Lydia, though he never seems able to say the words out loud. What if she doesn’t love him back? After all, she pushes him away whenever he tries to draw closer.

St. Ivo by Joanna Hershon

Over the course of a weekend, two couples reckon with the long-hidden secrets that have shaped their families in Joanna Hershon’s charged, poignant novel of motherhood and friendship. It’s the end of summer when we meet Sarah, the end of summer and the middle of her life, the middle of her career (she hopes it’s not the end), the middle of her marriage (recently repaired). And despite the years that have passed since she last saw her daughter, she is still very much in the middle of figuring out what happened to Leda, what role she played, and how she will let that loss affect the rest of her life.

August by Callan Wink

August is an average twelve-year-old. He likes dogs and fishing and doesn’t mind early-morning chores on his family’s Michigan dairy farm. But following his parents’ messy divorce, his mother decides that she and August need to start over in a new town. There, he tries to be an average teen — playing football and doing homework — but when his role in a shocking act of violence throws him off course once more, he flees to a ranch in rural Montana, where he learns that even the smallest communities have dark secrets.