Adult, Award Winners, Fiction, New & Upcoming

June 2023 Library Reads

Posted on June 5, 2023June 4, 2023 by Carol

Every month, library workers from across the country vote on their favorite upcoming books. This month’s selections include a time travel romance, a historical novel about Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune’s friendships, and a recently elected sheriff trying to track down a killer in rural Virginia.

Top Pick: The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon

The entire town feels sorry for Aidan Thomas when his wife dies. But the mysterious woman staying in the house Aidan shares with his teenage daughter has seen a very different side of him … and knows her every move has life-or-death stakes. A great pick for thriller fans looking for a page-turner with a strong female protagonist. —Mara Bandy Fass, Champaign Public Library

While you wait: The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

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Adult, Fiction, Horror, Mystery, New & Upcoming, Science Fiction, Thrillers

April 2023 Library Reads

Posted on April 7, 2023April 6, 2023 by Carol

Every month, librarians from across the country pick the upcoming book releases they’re most excited to get their hands on. This month, we have a re-telling of Pinocchio full of quirky and charming characters, a thriller set in the classical music world, a humorous anti-heist novel, and three tales of horrors that move unseen, including one set aboard a spaceship.

Top Pick: In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

Clearly if you need a book about a robot that’s guaranteed to have you break out into heaving sobs, this is the novel for you. Klune’s masterful retelling of Pinocchio — a little bit science fiction, a little bit dystopian, and a little bit book-clubby–is a sure-fire winner with so much appeal on so many levels it should prompt readers of all genres to step into something new and original. For fans of The Maker of Swans and The Night Circus. —Douglas Beatty, Baltimore County Public Library

While you wait: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

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Adult, Award Winners, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Horror, New & Upcoming, Romance

Library Reads: March 2023

Posted on March 3, 2023March 2, 2023 by Carol

Every month, librarians across the country highlight the upcoming titles they’re most excited to read. This month’s picks include a horror novel set in early 20th century Montana, a retelling of the Greek myth of Clytemnestra, and a coming-of-age novel set in Prohibition-era Virginia.

Top Pick: Lone Women by Victor LaValle

A homestead far from prying eyes offers Adelaide a fresh start in 1915 Montana. She makes a few female friends–after all, lone women need to stick together. But a secret that won’t be contained or silenced soon threatens her new life. Horror mixed with resilient characters in complex relationships make this a must-read for fans of A Dangerous Business and When Women Were Dragons.

—Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX

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Adult, Award Winners, Contemporary, Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Thrillers

Library Reads: Top 10 of 2022

Posted on January 10, 2023January 7, 2023 by Carol

Every December, hundreds of librarians from across the country vote for their favorite books of the year. This year’s picks include a romance in which the heroine’s fiercely career-driven outlook doesn’t get sacrificed for her love interest, a genetic scifi thriller, and a locked-room mystery set in an upscale hotel.

Top Pick: Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city.

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Adult, Fiction, Historical, Horror, New & Upcoming, Romance, Science Fiction, Thrillers

Library Reads July 2022

Posted on July 1, 2022June 29, 2022 by Carol

Every month, librarians across the country pick the ten upcoming titles they’re most excited to read. This month’s picks include a deliciously creepy take on Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, the story of an 8 year old girl forced to attend Weight Watchers, and a pair of romance novels that grapple with the intersection of love and mental health.

Top Pick: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

A retelling of The Fall of the House of Usher, Kingfisher’s latest adds the
creepiest of flesh to the bare-bones tale by Poe. Complete with a scary,
isolated mansion and eerie behaviors of the residents, this version not only
makes perfect sense within the original narrative, but adds a depth of
understanding that suddenly makes all the pieces fall into place. For fans of
Mexican Gothic, The Haunting of Hill House, and The Night Stranger. —Sheri Stanley, Gulfport Library

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Adult, Award Winners, Fiction, New & Upcoming

Library Reads: April 2022

Posted on April 11, 2022April 10, 2022 by Carol

Every month, librarians from across the country pick 10 upcoming new releases that they’re especially excited to read. This month’s selections include the story of a woman who defies the odds to become a chemist in the 1960s, a heist novel that wonders – is it really stealing if it was stolen from you in the first place?, and a collection of science fiction stories from acclaimed musician, actress, and now author Janelle Monáe.

Top Pick: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

In the 50s and early 60s when women were viewed as little more than
chattel for men’s convenience, Elizabeth Zott had the temerity to become a
chemist. With complex and wonderful characters, her story is funny, sad,
enraging, hopeful, and will have readers cheering for every character and all
women everywhere. For fans of Where’d You Go Bernadette?, The Rosie
Project, and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. —Judy G. Sebastian, Eastham Public Library

What to Read While You Wait: Park Avenue Summer by Renée Rosen

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Adult, Fiction, Horror, Mystery, New & Upcoming, Romance, Science Fiction, Thrillers

Library Reads: March 2022

Posted on March 11, 2022March 10, 2022 by Carol

What are librarians reading in March? This month’s picks include the story of a delivery boy thrown into an inter-dimensional Jurassic Park, a twisted horror tale set deep in the Mojave Desert, and a thriller about a family forced into Witness Protection.

Top Pick: Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Meddy Chan is getting married, and the wedding planners are perfect–until Meddy overhears the wedding photographer talking about murdering someone at the reception. Her aunties spring into action, setting into motion a series of madcap misadventures intended to save Meddy’s special day. A charming combo of close-knit family, humor, and light mystery. — LibraryReads review by Nanette Donohue, Champaign Public Library

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Adult, Award Winners, Contemporary, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, New & Upcoming, Romance, Thrillers

LibraryReads Picks: February 2022

Posted on February 11, 2022February 11, 2022 by Carol

Every month, librarians from across the country pick the 10 upcoming releases they’re most excited to read. This month’s picks include a thriller set in Paris, a story about “the other woman” in Agatha Christie’s marriage, two queer romances, and a mystery revolving around the theft of a Stradivarius violin.

Top Pick: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Foley hits it out of the ballpark with this solid thriller set in a Paris apartment
building. Jess goes looking for her brother, but finds only the smell of bleach
and a broken St. Christopher medal lodged in the floorboards. Written in short
chapters with multiple points of view and delicious secrets dropped along
the way, this gripping, wild ride is impossible to put down. If you like
Liane Moriarty or Ruth Ware, pick this one up. —LibraryReads review by Douglas Beatty, Baltimore County Public Library

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Adult, Fiction, Mystery, New & Upcoming, Romance, Science Fiction

LibraryReads Picks: January 2022

Posted on January 14, 2022January 14, 2022 by Carol

Looking for a good book to tide you through the coldest months? Here are 10 books coming out this month that librarians are especially excited to pick up.

Top Pick: The Maid by Nita Prose

A socially awkward hotel maid finds herself at the center of a murder investigation when she discovers a wealthy hotel guest dead in his bed one day.

Molly loves her job, loved her recently deceased grandmother, and cherishes the way the rules of her work let her blend in with others. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection. But Molly’s orderly life is turned on its head the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself very dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s odd demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect and she finds herself in a web of subtext and nuance she has no idea how to untangle.

What to read while you wait:
– The Lazarus Hotel: another locked room mystery set in an upscale hotel
– Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: about an isolated young woman and the friendships she develops after she and a coworker help save an elderly man who collapses
– Pretty as a Picture: a locked room mystery with a protagonist who also just wants to do her job

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Adult, Award Winners, Fiction, Uncategorized

Library Reads: Top 10 of 2021

Posted on December 17, 2021December 17, 2021 by Carol

Every December, hundreds of librarians from across the country vote for their favorite books of the year. This year’s picks include a thriller about what happens to the survivors after the credits roll in a horror flick, a historical novel about an abandoned mother who works to save her family during the Dust Bowl, and a fantastical love story between a ghost who needs to cross over to the other side and the ferryman responsible for transporting the souls of the dead.

Top Pick: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

Elsa Martinelli has two children, an unhappy marriage, and a farm that she stubbornly helps tend. But when the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl hit, the family’s relations are stretched to the brink. Abandoned by her husband, faced with dying livestock and failing crops, Elsa must choose whether to stay with the land she loves or flee in search of a better life for her and her children.

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