Staff Picks
LibraryReads for June 2024
- Sarah C.
- Monday, May 20
Collection
Each month, LibraryReads lists the top upcoming titles recommended by librarians across the country. All these books will be published in June 2024, so stay ahead of the curve and get on the holds list now!
Winter Lost
Published in 2024
"In the supernatural realms, there are creatures who belong to winter. I am not one of them. But like the coyote I can become at will, I am adaptable. My name is Mercy Thompson Hauptman, and my mate, Adam, is the werewolf who leads the Columbia Basin Pack, the pack charged with keeping the people who live and work in the Tri-Cities of Washington State safe. It's a hard job, and it doesn't leave much room for side quests--which is why when I needed to travel to Montana to help my brother, I intended to goby myself. But I'm not alone anymore. Together, Adam and I find ourselves trapped with strangers in a lodge in the heart of the wilderness, in the teeth of a storm of legendary power, only to discover my brother's issues are just part of a problem much bigger than we imagined. Arcane and ancient magics are at work that could, unless we are very careful, bring about the end of the world."-- Provided by publisher.
The Rom-commers
Published in 2024
"She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies-good ones! That win contests! But she's also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates-The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!-it's a break too big to pass up. Emma's younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don't meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn't want to write with anyone-much less "a failed, nobody screenwriter." Worse, the romantic comedy he's written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn't even care about the script-it's just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme. But Emma's not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter-even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turnsout to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they're writing breaks all Emma's rules-and comes true?"-- Provided by publisher.
Swift River
Published in 2024
In 1987, the only Black person in all Swift River after her Pop disappeared seven years ago, Diamond Newberry, receiving a letter from a relative she's never met, is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, gaining a sense of her place in the world and in her family.
The Next Mrs. Parrish
A Novel
Published in 2024
"Daphne and Amber Parrish are thrust back into one another's lives upon the resurgence of a long-forgotten threat, forcing a vicious game of cat and mouse where everything is on the line, in this thrilling sequel to the million-copy-bestselling Reese's Book Club Pick The Last Mrs. Parrish. Amber Patterson Parrish has come a long way from being an invisible wallflower. Her hard work and immaculate planning have paid off now that she's a prominent socialite, but that doesn't mean she's had it easy along theway. Less than a year since her husband Jackson's tax evasion scandal, Amber is still at the top of the Bishops Harbor community pecking order, free to do as she wishes while Jackson sits in prison. But that freedom is quickly coming to an end. With Jackson getting released from prison, Amber's time-and money-is vanishing. Meanwhile, Daphne Parrish left Bishops Harbor after her divorce from Jackson Parrish, swearing she would never go back. But when her daughter, Tallulah, runs away from home, desperateto see her father, Daphne agrees to return for the summer to allow him supervised visits. Once out of prison, Jackson swears he's a changed man but Daphne knows all too well that Jackson can't be trusted. When a ghost from Amber's past emerges looking forrevenge, the three of them find unlikely allies in one another, but who is playing who? When all is said and done, they'll have to fight tooth and nail for everything they have left in this zero-sum game. With shocking turns and entertaining characters,The Next Mrs. Parrish will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about duplicity and betrayal"-- Provided by publisher.
Love Letters to a Serial Killer
Published in 2024
"Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs with their husbands and children, thirty-something Hannah finds new community in an internet true crime forum that's on a mission to solve the murders of four women who were dumped in a ravine outside Atlanta. When a handsome lawyer named William is arrested for the killings, with evidence of his guilt piling up as quickly as the bodies, Hannah begins writing him letters as another outlet for both her frustration at her failure to launch and her feminist rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first - until William writes back. Their correspondence tips Hannah's interest in the case from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. When she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial, finding herself quickly embedded in a colorful group of fellow true crime junkies and trial chasers. But, a fifth woman is soon found in the same ravine while William is on trial,and the jury has no choice but to find him 'not guilty.' Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release, and they quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss. Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serialmurder..."-- Provided by publisher.
Not in Love
Published in 2024
"Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down. Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through--and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him. Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business--one that plays for keeps"-- Provided by publisher.
That Night in the Library
A Novel
Published in 2024
"On the night before graduation, seven students gather in the basement of their university's rare books library. They're not allowed in the library after closing time, but it's the perfect place for the ritual they want to perform--one borrowed from the Greeks, said to free those who take part in it from the fear of death. And what better time to seek the wisdom of ancient gods than in the hours before they'll scatter in different directions to start their real lives? But just a few minutes into their celebration, the lights go out--and one of them drops dead. As the body count rises, with nothing but the books to protect them, the group must figure out how to survive the night while trapped with a murderer."-- Provided by publisher.
Incidents Around the House
A Novel
Published in 2024
"A horror novel about a haunting, told from the perspective of a young girl whose troubled family is targeted by an entity she calls "Other Mommy.""-- Provided by publisher.
Middle of the Night
A Novel
Published in 2024
"In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend-and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines of his picture-perfect neighborhood"-- Provided by publisher.
A Talent for Murder
A Novel
Published in 2024
"Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she'd likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her work as a librarian in Maine. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured salesman whose job took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger. A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he'd worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern--five unsolved cases of murdered women. Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . .but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected"-- Provided by publisher.
Fire Exit
A Novel
Published in 2024
"From the porch of his home, Charles Lamosway has watched the life he might have had unfold across the river on Maine's Penobscot Reservation. On the far bank, he caught brief moments of his neighbor Elizabeth's life - from the day she came home from the hospital to her early twenties. But there's always been something deeper and more dangerous than the river that divides him from her and the rest of the tribal community. It's the secret that Elizabeth is his daughter, a secret Charles is no longer willing to keep. Now, it's been weeks since he's seen Elizabeth, and Charles is worried. As he attempts to hold on to and care for what he can - his home and property; his alcoholic, quick-tempered, and bighearted friend Bobby; and his mother, Louise, who is slipping ever deeper into dementia - he becomes increasingly haunted by his past. Forced to confront a lost childhood on the reservation, a love affair cut short, and the death of his beloved stepfather, Fredrick, in a hunting accident - a death he and Louise are at odds over as to where to lay blame - Charles contends with questions he's long been afraid to ask. Is his secret about Elizabeth his to share? And would his daughter want to know the truth, even if it could cost her everything she's ever known?"-- Provided by publisher.
Service Model
Published in 2024
"To fix the world they must first break it, further. Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose. Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming"-- Provided by publisher.
Margo's Got Money Troubles
A Novel
Published in 2023
"A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman's attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world-from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of TheKnockout Queen"-- Provided by publisher.
Husbands & Lovers
A Novel
Published in 2024
"Connecticut, 2022. Mallory Dunne has spent her life trying to be a good mother to her son, Sam. Raising him alone is hard, even with the help of her sister. Two years ago, Sam ingested a toxic mushroom and fell into a coma. Now recovered, he needs a newkidney to live a normal life, forcing Mallory to track down his father in the hope that they're a match. Her journey to find him again transports her back to the summer they spent on the paradise of Winthrop Island - a time of music, porch cocktails, young love, and the site of a terrible event that drove Mallory from his arms. Cairo, 1951. Hannah Ainsworth cannot escape the war that destroyed her life, her first love - and her hope for a brighter future. A Hungarian aemigrae married to a hapless Britishman working for the Foreign Office, Hannah is thrown into the parched but bustling desert landscape of Egypt, now convulsing with revolution. Looking for passion, she begins a dangerous affair with an enigmatic hotel manager who shows her the majesty of the pyramids and his nation. But their newfound romance has perilous consequences, and Hannah must decide how much she's willing to risk for the pursuit of love. Mallory's moving journey to protect her son intertwines with Hannah's explosive affair in surprising, illuminating ways. Husbands & Lovers is the epic story of two fierce women united by an heirloom, passed down to Mallory by her own mother - a cobra bracelet with a mysterious provenance, studded with gems and secrets"-- Provided by publisher.
Shelterwood
A Novel
Published in 2024
"Oklahoma 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Augusta Radley knows that her stepfather doesn't have good intentions toward the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home as wards. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees to the woods, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the rugged Winding Stair Mountains, the notorious territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, Ollie and Nessa form an unlikely band with others like themselves, struggling tostay one step ahead of those who seek to exploit them... or worse. Oklahoma 1990. Law Enforcement Ranger Valerie Boren O'dell arrives at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to balance a career and single parenthood. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than she's faced with local controversy over the park's opening, a teenage hiker gone missing from one of the trails, and the long-hidden burial site of three children deep in a cave. Val's quest to uncover the truth wins an ally among the neighboring Choctaw Tribal Police, but soon collides with old secrets and the tragic and deadly history of the land itself. In this emotional and enveloping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law, and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val traverse the wild and beautiful terrain, each leaving behind one life in search of another"-- Provided by publisher.
One of Our Kind
A Novel
Published in 2024
"When Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to the planned Black utopia of Liberty, California, they hope 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 fit in. She expected to find liberals and social justice activists striving for racial equality, but Liberty residents seem more focused on spa treatments and keeping up appearances. Jasmyn's only friends in the community are equally perplexed and frustrated by Liberty's outlook, a frustration that turns to concern when their loved ones start embracing the Liberty way of life.As Jasmyn learns more about Liberty and its founders, she discovers a terrible secret that threatens to destroy her world in ways she could never have imagined"-- Provided by publisher.