Category Archives: Fiction

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (2025)

03 Monday Aug 2026

Posted by in adventure, fantasy, Fiction, romance, Travel

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A scholar and an ancient knight are caught up in a magic spell that causes them to live their lives over and over again, reuniting each time. This is a beautifully written fantasy where it is the lady knight who saves the male hero.

“The Everlasting is razor sharp and designed to cut you deeply. You’ll be moved, you’ll probably cry, and by the end you’ll say thank you for delivering my suffering so beautifully…What exquisite agony, wonderfully delivered.” –NPR, Books We Love 

“No one writes about why we read quite like Alix Harrow…A wildly inventive, truly magical tour de force.” ―Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning, on The Everlasting 

“A beautiful novel about the stories that shape our lives and the divine and ordinary inevitability of love… If Una Everlasting stabbed me I’d die happy.”–Lex Croucher, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Gwen & Art Are Not In Love 

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John of John: a Novel (Oprah’s Book Club) by Douglas Stuart (2026)

27 Monday Jul 2026

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“Stuart showcases his impressive gift for characterization in this perceptive and propulsive story of a tight-knit community of Gaelic-speaking sheep farmers and weavers on the remote Scottish Isle of Harris . . . Stuart’s deeply humane character work extends beyond father and son to their neighbors, including a sensitive middle-aged bachelor who belongs to John’s book club and cries while discussing Wuthering Heights. Stuart continues his winning streak with this brilliant novel.“—Publishers Weekly (starred review) 

“Douglas Stuart brilliantly weaved a layered, compelling and yet so intimate a story of identity, what it means to belong, and the courage to claim your own truth.”—Oprah Winfrey

“One of 2026’s literary triumphs.”—Boston Globe

“Powerful and surprising . . . [A] moving, suspenseful, completely-worth-your-time new novel . . . John of John is a stick of dynamite waiting to go off in your hand, the steadily intensifying story of a fractured trio . . . Stuart is not just a very good writer but an immensely skilled storyteller . . . one of the many pleasures of John of John—a title that eventually blossoms to reveal about five different meanings, all interesting—is that Stuart doesn’t let on until the very end whether he is writing toward hope or toward tragedy. Until he reveals the answer, he wants you to stay in the room with these difficult people, to try to puzzle them out, to watch them wage impossible struggles, and to wish them well.”—Mark Harris, The New York Times Book Review 

“An immersive experience . . . Seamlessly, relationships are revealed, secrets divulged. As always, Stuart’s prose is a joy to read and get lost in. He conveys both the beauty and the isolation of the Hebridean setting while illuminating the lies we tell ourselves in order to cope.“—Booklist (starred review)

“The central question of the book, facing all the main characters, is whether it’s possible to inhabit the place one calls home as one’s genuine self. Stay or go? Life or death? With his gift for creating vibrantly specific characters and settings, Stuart again taps profound human truth.“—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Skylark: a Novel by Paula McLain

20 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in 20th century, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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I thought I had read every WW II story there is, but I hadn’t ever heard about this one.

“A resounding elegy of love, courage, and defiance. Paula McLain melds two timelines and one city into the kind of story you think about long after you’ve finished reading. Mysterious and haunting and timeless. I loved it.”—Ariel Lawhon, New York Times bestselling author of The Frozen River

“Readers will be enthralled by McLain’s vivid storytelling, engaged with her memorable cast of characters, and enraged at the cruelties humans have exacted on one another throughout history.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“An enthralling plunge into deep layers of Paris history, both beautifully written and breathtakingly suspenseful. I could not put it down.”—Helen Simonson, New York Times bestselling author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand

“Paula McLain is a story alchemist. In Skylark, she saturates our imaginations with the colorful threads of two distinct timelines. Artfully crafted and poetically rendered, this is the kind of historical fiction I live for—stories where the past acts as a mirror for the modern milieu.”—Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely?

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I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney (2025)

13 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in Comedy, Fiction, meaning of life, United States

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Just announced – this title has been chosen for the global LIBBY reads. What that means is that from July 9-23 2026 readers worldwide can check out this title with no waitlists or holds in the Libby app?

The author is a longtime contributor to The New Yorker magazine’s Shouts & Murmurs column. “Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.” – Libby Reads

“I See You’ve Called in Dead is a riotously funny, poignantly introspective novel that dives headfirst into the absurdity of existence. Bud Stanley is an obituary writer who gets everything wrong—including accidentally publishing his own death notice. From botched blind dates to philosophical musings about life and death, Bud grapples with love, legacy, and the existential (and satirical) weight of being alive. —Weike Wang, author of Rental House 

“Kenney’s touching, provocative novel . . . alludes to the idea that life’s richness comes from spending time with people you love, and that those relationships are built on mutual respect, truth, and love. A touching ode to the people who make life worth living.”—Kirkus Reviews 

“A wake up call to embrace and celebrate life, I See You’ve Called in Dead is replete with essential elements that make a work of fiction great: heart, humor, intelligence and emotional depth.”—BookTrib 

“Razor-sharp, darkly comedic, and emotionally piercing. With the satirical bite of Richard Russo’s Straight Man, the introspection of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, and the reinvention of Andrew Sean Greer’s Less, Kenney’s vivid prose transforms the mundane into unexpected hilarity.”—Booklist (starred review) 

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The Boy From the Sea by Garrett Carr (2025)

06 Monday Jul 2026

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We three librarians who have read this are so excited to finally discover someone whose writing approximates the fine Niall Williams and his Irish tales. Garrett Carr is from Killybegs, a fishing town in Donegal, Ireland’s northwest coast. He now lives in Belfast and teaches Creative Writing in the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queens University Belfast. A book to renjoy…. so slowly.

“The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr captures the changing feeling of the latter decades of the twentieth century in Ireland better than any other recent novel I could name. Its language and sensibility reflects the sly humour of its Donegal setting, and the reader is riveted by the heroic efforts of its characters to hold on to one another in the face of the gale-force winds of historical change.”—Niamh Mulvey, author of The Amendments 

“The novel does something only art can, which is to show how more than one truth might be held in mind at once, even if together they conflict… Wry, observant, various and thoughtful, a book that gathers momentum like a westerly, the crash of consequences giving way to a late calm, the reader left with a stunned impression of the storm that just blew over.”—The Irish Times 

“Carr’s novel accesses deep strands of truth by embedding magic in the real… In the difficulty of these characters’ lives is a sense of real connection that gives the book a kind of lightness, of what might be possible in a real community: lasting ties, genuine reciprocity. This is not false hope; it’s just hope… This is a surprising, tender and warm-hearted novel about a real place and real people.”—The Guardian

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The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (2026)

13 Saturday Jun 2026

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“I always know I’m in steady hands when reading Elizabeth Strout, whether it’s a Lucy Barton book, or one from another of her multiverse. . . . Strout is consistent and satisfying: her writing is . . . always delightful, and illuminates the world in new, brighter colors with every book she writes.”—Literary Hub

“Let’s hope that this fine author continues steadily along her path, delivering unto her loyal readers story upon story, gift upon gift.”—The Guardian 

“Strout’s decision to start fresh feels like a promise: new characters to obsess over, new quiet devastations to survive. Here, a high school teacher’s seemingly settled life is upended by a long-kept secret. Strout will always make ordinary lives feel urgent. New territory just raises the stakes.”—Oprah Daily 

“Tantalizingly perceptive and compassionate . . . Strout fans will flock to her latest, thrilled to meet new characters in her always compelling fictional universe.”—Booklist, starred review 

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Go Gentle: a Novel by Maria Semple (2026)

22 Friday May 2026

Posted by in adventure, Fiction, Humor

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“In her new novel, her fourth, a divorced woman named Adora Hazzard is enjoying life with her teenage daughter and a ‘coven’ of friends on the same floor of her building on New York’s Upper West Side. She is not looking for love, and so Semple gives it to her, sparking events that show off the author’s trademark hilarious chaos.” –The Washington Post 

“Go Gentle is a thoroughly fun and raucous read that richly explores the wisdom that comes with middle age and the tradeoff between being content and taking chances.” –BookPage 

“Maria Semple is a truly American author who sees the pathos, chaos and humor in each episode, in each character’s needs and wants…GO GENTLE is hard to put down — and the final events will stay with readers long after the last page is turned. This is the perfect book for spring, a time for renewal and recharging.” –Bookreporter

“Funny, tender, mysterious, clever…Semple entertains in every moment of this smart story of Greek philosophy and Greek statues; desire, happiness, and their opposites; and priceless midlife peace… Readers will have hearts in their eyes to see her first new novel in a decade.”–Booklist (Starred Review)

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A Far-Flung Life: a Novel by M.L. Stedman (2026)

12 Tuesday May 2026

Posted by in Fiction, Historical Fiction, suspense

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From the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Light Between Oceans comes a breathtaking and epic novel set in the vast outback of Australia—about tragedy, family secrets, and the enduring power of love.  

“A big, bold story of tragedy and resilience. I was completely swept away.” —Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry 

“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR

“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy…and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life…A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review

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The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy: : Book 1 of the Dearly Beloathed Duology by Brigitte Knightley (2025)

05 Tuesday May 2026

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An assassin and a healer are forced to team up in this witty, screwball romantic comedy set in a world of magic.

“Knightley’s debut is an absolute joy, full of well-written banter and entertaining vignettes. Readers will be captivated by an exceptionally clever magical system, several concurrent mysteries, and the slowest of slow burn romances between two people who absolutely hate each other…This is a superlative read deserving of very real praise.”—Booklist, starred review

“Charming and perfectly crafted, this will-they-won’t-they slow burning romance between two enemies is now one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. Knightley’s debut crackles with wit and magic, intrigue and banter, and has left a mark behind on my heart.”—Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals

“Quite possibly the perfect book. Agonizing yearning. Wit so dry I got a paper cut. Every page a symphony of cleverness and humor. Irresistible is right—I fell hard for this book and I’m desperate for more.”—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of Death

“Clever, original, and ridiculously fun, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy is my newest obsession! Knightley has built a world I never wanted to leave, and her characters kept me up way too late, grinning at their banter. An absolute gem of a book!”—Kristen Ciccarelli, New York Times bestselling author of Heartless Hunter

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My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney (2026)

13 Monday Apr 2026

Posted by in Drama, Fiction, suspense, thriller, United States

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There were a lot of twists and turns in this one and I didn’t see the surprises coming. 

“A straight-up mystery-thriller―there’s no alternate dimensions or woo-woo involved. Just nuclear-grade deception.” ―Goodreads (Most Anticipated)

“My Husband’s Wife is propulsive, compulsive, addictive and everything else you could possibly want a psychological thriller to be. I read it in under a day, breathlessly, with wide eyes, and in awe of a writer at the top of their game.”―Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Let Him In

“Feeney delivers another gripping psychological thriller enhanced by an immersive, sound-rich

listening experience. . . These vivid soundscapes don’t just enhance the atmosphere―they transform the listening experience into something truly cinematic and unforgettable. Readers of twisty psychological fiction by such as Freida McFadden, Riley Sager, Ruth Ware, and Lisa Jewell will rush to listen.”―Booklist, audio (starred review)

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