Staff Choices

One Italian Summer will make you want to drop everything and immediately fly to the Italian Riviera. This book does a beautiful job of depicting Positano, capturing its natural beauty. The town does feel like a place where magic can happen, making it an appropriate setting for this book.

Katy’s mom passes away and her marriage is struggling, so she decides to take the trip to Italy her and her mother had planned before she died. Rebecca Serle does an amazing job of capturing the grief of losing a mother. Yet, overall, I did not like Katy as a character, as she seemed quite selfish and seemed co-dependent on her mother.

I appreciate magical elements in a novel, but find they work best when the character struggles to understand them at first. Upon arriving in Positano, Katy encounters the 30-year-old version of her mother, Carol, and the two connect and enjoy each other's company. Katy learns more about her mother through the magic of time travel, both the good and the bad - including some difficult revelations that lead Katy to question everything she believed about her mother and their relationship. 

In the end, I struggled to understand Katy's borderline obsession with her mother because it blinded her to other things in her life. I also struggled with the time travel piece, as Katy readily accepted it without investigating the reason. Despite these issues, I did find the story to be well written and the vivid description of the Italian setting enthralled me. 

Colleen Hoover's newest book Reminders of Him is a story that will rip your heart apart and then slowly put it back together again.

Kenna Rowan is a heroine who represents the raw realities of being a young girl, woman, daughter and mother. Having made an honest and horrific mistake 5 years ago landing her in prison, she loses two loves of her life – one being her daughter. Coming back to the town where everything started and ended, Kenna does all that she can to receive forgiveness and to once again be a part of her daughter’s life.

The only person in town who doesn't hate Kenna is local bar owner Ledger Ward, and as they grow closer, the chances of Kenna ever having her daughter in her life drift farther and farther away. Kenna and Ledger are both connected by an unimaginable tragedy, and it's going to take so much courage and forgiveness to move past it and build a future.

Reading the story through both of their own POVs and watching each of them fall in love with the other showcased true endurance and perseverance. This was definitely a heavier read than other contemporary romances and it centers around family, grief, and forgiveness. This is a compelling story that is heartbreaking, yet hopeful. Fans of Colleen Hoover's other fantastic novels and those who enjoy second chance stories will love this book.

Light from Uncommon Stars is Ryka Aoki's debut novel - a blend of fantasy, science fiction, artificial intelligence, a demonish deal and the beauty of music. I became invested in the story and in the three main characters, Katrina, Shizuka and Lan whose storylines revolve around one another brought together by chance and fate.

It covers themes about gender identity, runaways, non-acceptance, acceptance, painful experiences, actions taken that can't be undone, and found family. Despite these heavy real-life issues it is interspersed with humor, kindness and hope.

This is a strange yet surprising book about friendship and taking chances. Take a chance and pick up a coy of Light from Uncommon Stars.

“Sorting through my mother’s things, it’s made me wonder what I want the world to remember me by.” – Just Haven’t Met You Yet

Laura Le Quesne arrives to the Channel Island of Jersey to write an article for her magazine Love Life when she realizes she has grabbed the wrong suitcase. Of course, it only makes sense to open the stranger’s suitcase and go through its contents: her favorite book, piano music for her favorite artist, and a heavy knit fisherman sweater. Laura is absolutely positive that this is the man of her dreams and commissions a cab driver to take her on the mission of finding her dream man.

I absolutely loved this book. Laura’s character is so quirky and charming and although her ideas surrounding a “dream man” and “soulmate” seem outlandish and only for the movies, you can’t help but cheer her on with her mission to find picture-perfect love. Sophie Cousens really takes you along for the ride, painting a beautiful picture of the Channel Island of Jersey and some of the whacky residents Laura encounters. I loved that the quest wasn’t entirely about finding love but also shattering the idea and pressure of finding the “perfect” story worthy of a magazine article. Laura learns that life is inevitably harsh but beautiful if we make it that way.

Wahala by Nikki May is an incisive and exhilarating debut novel centered on the female friendship of three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group. This female trio is the most unforgettable friendship since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. For those who aren’t familiar with those names, I am talking about the epic friendship circle of the women of Sex and the City.

This story follows a friend group made up of 3 British/Nigerian girls who met in grade school and bonded over their shared heritage. Ronke, Simi and Boo are the kind of friend group that make others jealous. They have grown up together as close as sisters - sharing their successes, their dreams, as well as their failures. With the introduction of Isobel (a childhood friend of Simi), things start to take a turn for the three close friends. A turn which has the potential to tear this group apart for good.

If you are a fan of Sex and the City or Big Little Lies, this drama filled novel with strong mystery/thriller undertones is perfect for you.

The fascinating story of the creation of CRISPR , which gives us the technology to gene editing. It is extremely well written for the layman to understand the complex biology involved.

The book is also very timely as the scientists involved are perfecting it just as Covid emerges. Their work becomes instrumental in making and delivering the vaccine.

Great book, don't be put off by the topic or the length.

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris is a brilliant debut novel, set in rural Georgia at the end of the Civil War as the emancipation of slaves is being enforced throughout the South.  This historical novel reads like a gripping page turner, while also telling  a more intimate tale of family, friendship, and forbidden love. Two recently freed slaves, brothers Prentiss and Landry, are found hiding in the woods by white landowner George Walker, who is grieving after receiving news that his son Caleb had died fighting for the Confederate Army. The men eventually overcome their distrust of one another, and George hires the brothers to help farm his land. George’s wife Isabelle slowly grows to trust the brothers as well, as she emerges from the debilitating depression caused by death of her son. The fact that the Walkers have employed freed slaves is met with fierce hostility by the townspeople of Old Ox, especially former slave owners who refuse to accept that these newly freed slaves are no longer their “property”. There is also a hidden homosexual relationship between two soldiers, the discovery of which sets off a series of tragic events that will impact pretty much every person in the town.  

The tension in the book is palbable, as the safety of Prentiss and Landry is in constant jeopardy. One doesn't have to be a Civil War buff to find the time period fascinating as well. Slaves are literally freed overnight, but without a cent to their name or any sort of roadmap. literal or figurative, to guide them into an unknown future. But ultimately it is the richly drawn characters  that make The Sweetness of Water such an  incredibly compelling novel, as the reader can't help but care for them. 

Elizabeth Strout revisits her unforgettable character Lucy Barton in this simple tale about love and loss. Grieving her second husband, Lucy Barton also looks back on her relationship with her first husband William as she wades through her emotions and her 64 years. She deeply loved her second husband, but as she looks back on her life and the dysfunctional abusive family she had growing up, she comes to the conclusion the only time she felt safe in her life was with William. 

Oh, William! is another masterpiece by Strout. I can't get enough of her depth of characters and rich sense of place. Elizabeth Strout tells what appear to be simple stories, yet have multiple layers of experiences and emotions. As the Washington Post noted "So much intimate, fragile, desperate humanness infuses these pages, it's breathtaking"