LibraryAware November 2025

Recent Releases

The French Kitchen
by Kristy Cambron

Boston's Kat Fontaine, who as a child spent summers in France, follows her brother into the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Working undercover as a kitchen maid in a chateau occupied by the Nazis, Kat faces danger helping the resistance and hears nothing from her sibling. After the war, she returns to uncover what happened to him, getting help from friends, including Julia Child. Try this next: Amy Lynn Green's The Codebreaker's Daughter.

Dawn of Grace: Mary Magdalene's Story
by Jill Eileen Smith

From her earliest days, Mary Magdalene has known fear and loss at a level so deep she has no hope of surfacing. Bound to the demons within her and incapable of freeing herself, Mary walks in shadow--until one day she encounters a healer, a rabbi who is radically different from the religious leaders and family members who could do nothing to help her. One touch from Jesus and Mary is never the same.Now Mary's one mission in life is to serve the one who freed her. She is determined never to leave his side, fearing that if she loses him, she'll return to her former bondage. Even when the unthinkable happens and her savior is arrested and sentenced to execution, she cannot abandon him as so many others did. Let her be buried in his tomb, for she cannot live without him.On the brink of despair, Mary is about to discover that while the life of faith is never perfect, perfect love casts out fear--and Jesus makes all things new.

Through Water and Stone: A Zion National Park Novel
by Karen Barnett

In 1948, Zion National Park ranger Henry Eriksson and his wife, Alma, are less than one year removed from their infant son's sudden death in a flash flood, but the weight of the loss hasn't lessened with time. When Henry discovers an abandoned infant in a hatbox on his morning rounds, he's unsure how to react, but Alma is delighted, and she reignites with purpose at what seems to be a miracle from God. Seventy-five years later, Talia Eriksson leaves her job at an athleisure company in Palo Alto, California, in disgrace and returns to Zion National Park to reconnect with her grandfather and review her life goals. But when an at-home DNA test exposes family secrets, Talia and law enforcement ranger Blake Mitchell join to search for answers. With a growing interest in Blake, Talia dives into her past. But with the uncertain future looming, she must learn that family is deeper than genetics and that trusting God means being still and clinging to the Rock--

Designed With Love
by Tracie Peterson

After her new husband is killed at the church altar by a jilted lover, Emma Johnson heals from her own bullet wound and returns home to Wyoming, accompanied by her brother-in-law Colton. His family wants him to marry Emma to keep control of their dead brother’s wealth, while he wants to because he loves her. This Western romance offers a tip of the hat to the prodigal son story and is the 2nd Hope of Cheyenne novel; the 3rd entry, A Moment to Love, comes out in October.

Focus on: Christmas Stories

A Royal Christmas
by Melody Carlson

Barista Adelaide Smith is working her way through law school when she learns she’s the daughter of the king of Montovia, a small European country. With her mother dead, Adelaide travels alone during Christmas break to meet her father and is drawn into family mysteries, royal jealousies, and a chance at her own happily ever after. For fans of: sweet rags-to-riches romances; Hallmark Christmas movies.

The Christmas Gathering
by Shelley Shepard Gray, Lenora Worth, and Rachel J. Good

These three heartwarming novellas feature Amish people navigating faith and love during the holidays. In “A Christmas Reunion,” Tricia falls for her cousin's Englisch friend. Then, a decades-old family feud can’t stop the connection between a couple in “We Gather Together.” Finally, “Hitting All the Right Notes” sees a young Amish man start a rock band during his Rumspringa and fall for a young Amish woman. Try this next: A Lancaster Amish Christmas: 4 Romance Novellas by Anne Blackburne, Amy Clipston, Mindy Steele, Amy Lillard.

An Ivy Hill Christmas
by Julie Klassen

Bachelor Richard Brockwell happily lives in his family's London townhouse in 1822, but needs to attend his mother's Christmas country house party or be cut off financially. With the stray dog he's recently adopted in tow, he goes home and finds himself charmed by houseguest Arabella Awdry, who’s planning to devote her life to charity work in this standalone Tales from Ivy Hill novel. For fans of: Christmas romances with themes of redemption.

Contact your librarian for more great books!