LibraryAware July 2025

Adult Fiction

Dream On, Ramona Riley
by Ashley Herring Blake

In this 1st steamy and feel-good Clover Lake romance, sparks fly between waitress Ramona Riley and actress Dylan Monroe in small-town Clover Lake, New Hampshire, where Dylan's shooting a movie. The two kissed years ago, but Dylan doesn't seem to remember. Can this unlikely pair find a second chance at happily-ever-after? For fans of: Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous by Mae Marvel.

Flashlight
by Susan Choi

Flashlight follows American Louisa Kang and her family across locations and years, but focuses on the night young Louisa and her ethnically Korean father walk on a Japanese beach. The next morning, she washes ashore, amnesiac and clinging to life, but her dad can’t be found. Covering family relationships and geopolitics, this slow burn novel is "never sentimental, never predictable" (Kirkus Reviews). Try this next: Kyung-Sook Shin's I Went To See My Father.

Fever beach : a novel
by Carl Hiaasen

Welcome to Fever Beach, where the sun blazes, the politics are unhinged, and the characters are as volatile as a summer storm. Dale Figgo is a half-baked crusader with the rare distinction of being kicked out of the Proud Boys--for being too dumb. His latest bad decision? Picking up a hitchhiker on a rainy afternoon while running an errand. That errand sets off a chain reaction involving Viva Morales, a clever, resilient newcomer trying to rebuild her life post-divorce. She's renting a room in Figgo's apartment and working at the Mink Foundation--a philanthropic front with something far darker beneath the surface.Circling them is Twilly Spree, a hotheaded environmentalist with too much cash and a gift for over-the-top revenge. When dark money and twisted motives bring their worlds crashing together, Viva and Twilly become unlikely allies. Together, they uncover a tangle of corruption and conspiracy led by a plastic-surgery-loving billionaire couple and a clueless congressman with delusions of grandeur. In his most outrageous and deliciously funny novel yet, Hiaasen delivers a gleefully chaotic portrait of contemporary madness.

Murder Takes A Vacation
by Laura Lippman

After winning the lottery, 68-year-old widow Mrs. Blossom goes on her first international trip, which finds her facing deceptive fellow travelers and a deadly mystery. Using skills she learned from working for PI Tess Monaghan, Mrs. Blossom sets things right while seeing Paris and going on a European river cruise. This cozyish tale by bestselling author Laura Lippman will interest fans of Nicholas George's A Deadly Walk in Devon.

The Girls of Good Fortune
by Kristina McMorris

Facing anti-Chinese sentiment in 1880s Oregon, half-Chinese Celia hides her heritage and works as a maid for Portland's mayor. His son, who knows Celia’s secret, loves her and proposes. But with him away at school, her father murdered, and her unexpectedly pregnant, Celia ends up housekeeping at a brothel, before other dangers surface. Recipes and an author's note add to this compelling tale. Read-alike: Jenny Tinghui Zhang's Four Treasures of the Sky.

Flesh : a novel
by David Szalay

"Teenaged Istvâan lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. Shy and new in town, he is a stranger to the social rituals practiced by his classmates and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbor--a married woman close to his mother's age, whom he begrudgingly helps with errands--as his only companion. But as these periodical encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that Istvâan himself can barely understand, his life soon spirals out of control, ending in a violent accident that leaves a man dead. What follows is a rocky trajectory that sees Istvâan emigrate from Hungary to London, where he moves from job to job before finding steady work as a driver for London's billionaire class. At each juncture, his life is affected by the goodwill or self-interest of strangers. Through it all, Istvâan is a calm, detached observer of his own life, and through his eyes we experience a tragic twist on an immigrant "success story," brightened by moments of sensitivity, softness, and Szalay's keen observation"

A Shipwreck in Fiji
by Nilima Rao

In 1915 Fiji, Police Sergeant Akal Singh, who was sent to the remote British outpost as punishment, chaperones two strong-willed European ladies to a neighboring island. But along with his friend Constable Taviti, he ends up dealing with a murder. This engaging 2nd book starring Sgt. Singh follows A Disappearance in Fiji, but can be read on its own. Read-alike: Abir Mukherjee's A Rising Man.

The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
by Martha Hall Kelly

Based on real events, this dual-timeline novel follows Mari Starwood in 2016 as she visits a reclusive Martha's Vineyard painter with a connection to her recently deceased mother. Back in 1942, with their brother at war, the teenage Smith sisters form a book club as they balance running their island farm with romance and fears of German U-boats and spies. For fans of: Madeline Martin's The Last Bookshop in London; Amy Lynn Green's The Blackout Book Club.

With A Vengeance
by Riley Sager

Anna Matheson lures six individuals responsible for her family’s ruin onto a luxury train, planning to confront them and force confessions. But when a passenger is murdered, Anna's carefully laid plans unravel. Now, she must risk her own life to protect her enemies as the situation spirals into deadly chaos.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
by V.E. Schwab

This genre-defying novel follows three lesbian vampires, their lives connected across centuries as they come to terms with their affliction and face love, hunger, immortality, and grief. For fans of: LGBTQIA fantasy with intricately plotted narratives and complex supernatural characters such as Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu and Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell.

The Listeners
by Maggie Stiefvater

In January 1942, war comes to West Virginia when the United States government orders the luxury Avallon Hotel to house Axis Power diplomats. Balancing work, worry, and ethical questions, hotel manager June Porter Hudson also gets to know a handsome FBI agent. This atmospheric adult fiction debut by a bestselling YA fantasy novelist has hints of magic and is a "must-read for all historical fiction fans" (Library Journal). Read-alike: Melanie Benjamin's Mistress of the Ritz.

Kill Your Darlings
by Peter Swanson

Peter Swanson's twisty thriller follows Thom and Wendy Graves, a seemingly ordinary couple with a deadly secret. Told in reverse, the narrative reveals their shared dark past, Wendy's growing plan to murder Thom, and the slow unraveling of their marriage. This complex psychological tale is full of surprises and emotional tension.

So Far Gone
by Jess Walter

In a divided 2016 America, retired Rhys Kinnick hits his son-in-law Shane at Thanksgiving and then goes off-grid in Washington State. A few years later, his grandkids show up, brought by a neighbor at the request of Rhys' daughter. But then Shane sends members of his church militia after the kids, leading Rhys to team up with an eccentric group of old friends. Read-alike: The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem.

Adult Nonfiction

Cooler than cool : the life and work of Elmore Leonard
by C. M. Kushins

"Over the course of his sixty-year career, Elmore Leonard, "the Dickens of Detroit," published forty-five novels that have had enduring appeal to readers around the world. Revered by Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Raymond Carver, and Stephen King, his books were innovative in their blending of a Hemingway--inspired noirish minimalism and a masterful use of realistic dialogue over exposition--a direct evolution spurred by his years as a screenwriter"

Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers
by Caroline Fraser

In her disturbing and well-researched true crime account, Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Fraser (Prairie Fires) examines the history of serial killers in the Pacific Northwest from the 1940s to the 1980s. For fans of: The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

A marriage at sea : a true story of love, obsession, and shipwreck
by Sophie Elmhirst

"The electrifying true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea: a mind-blowing tale of obsession, survival, and partnership stretched to its limits. Maurice and Maralyn make an odd couple. He's a loner, awkward and obsessive; she's charismatic and ambitious. But they share a horror of wasting their lives. And they dream - as we all dream - of running away from it all. What if they quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a boat, and sailed away? Most of us begin and end with the daydream. But Mauricebegan to study nautical navigation. Maralyn made detailed lists of provisions. And in June 1972, they set sail. For nearly a year all went well, until deep in the Pacific, a breaching whale knocked a hole in their boat and it sank beneath the waves. Whatensues is a jaw-dropping fight to survive on the wild ocean, with little hope of rescue. Alone together for months in a tiny rubber raft, starving and exhausted, Maurice and Maralyn have to find not only ways to stay alive but ways to get along, as theirinner demons emerge and their marriage is put to the greatest of tests. Although they could run away from the world, they can't run away from themselves. Taut, propulsive, and dazzling, A MARRIAGE AT SEA pairs adrenaline-fueled high seas adventure with agutting love story that asks why we love difficult people, and who we become under the most extreme conditions imaginable"

Accidental tyrant : the life of Kim Il-sung
by Fyodor Tertitskiy

"Kim Il-sung was the enigmatic architect of North Korea. His life is an extraordinary tale of improbable success: once a barely educated guerrilla fighter, he rose to lead the nation at the young age of 33. Against all odds, he established a horrifyinglystable dictatorial regime, one that still struggles to provide for its people, yet could obliterate Hollywood, Silicon Valley and much of East Asia in nuclear strikes. Based on extensive new sources in Korean, Russian, Chinese and Japanese, Fyodor Tertitskiy tells the unlikely story of one of the twentieth century's most brutal but little-known dictators, from his early life in Japanese Korea to the lasting repercussions of his autocratic rule today"

When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World
by Jordan Thomas

In his unputdownable debut, anthropologist and former Los Padres Hotshot wildland firefighter Jordan Thomas recounts his experiences during the 2021 fire season in California, detailing how climate change, colonization, and political malfeasance have exacerbated the rise of megafires in the American West. Try these next: The Last Fire Season: A Personal and Pyronatural History by Manjula Martin; Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West by Kelly Ramsey.

Youth Fiction

George & Lenny Are Always Together
by Jon Agee

Anxious brown bear George and curious gray rabbit Lenny are best friends who do everything together. So what will happen when Lenny wants to try a bit of solitude? This sweet and simple story uses expressive art to explore a timeless question about friendship. Read-alikes: I Am Going! by Mo Willems; Days with Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.

The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls
by Judith Rossell

When she arrives at the Midwatch Institute, headstrong Maggie Fishbone discovers that the gloomy-seeming orphanage is actually a school that trains girls to “solve mysteries and do good deeds and fight bad guys.” Set in a 1920s-era world of airships and motorcars, this clever story offers plenty of intrigue and thrills.

This Moth Saw Brightness
by A.A. Vacharat

Participating in a university’s clinical study on teen health sounds good to Wayne (who goes by D), especially after his crush Jane joins. When things turn strange, D teams up with his best friend and Jane to investigate the sinister motivations behind the research. This thought-provoking thriller is unputdownable.

Contact your librarian for more great books!