LibraryAware August 2025

Adult Fiction

El Dorado Drive
by Megan Abbott

In Megan Abbott’s latest noir-tinged thriller, three Detroit sisters entangle themselves in the Wheel, a secretive, women-led investment group promising financial salvation. As debts mount and loyalties fray, what began as a sisterhood of support spirals into manipulation, secrets, and escalating danger. El Dorado Drive is a sharp, suspenseful exploration of desperation, power, and betrayal.

Writing Mr. Wrong
by Kelley Armstrong

Debut author Gemma Stanton's run-in with professional hockey player Mason Moretti, her high school crush and muse for her romance novel, goes viral, spurring the pair to fake a relationship to boost their careers. Try this next: Just Our Luck by Denise Williams.

Death at the White Hart
by Chris Chibnall

Leaving Liverpool for her sleepy coastal hometown, DS Nicola Bridge wants to work less and save her marriage. But when the local pub owner is tied to a chair, killed, and left in the road, Nicola puts in long hours with her new team to solve the case. This "spectacular" (Library Journal) debut by the creator of TV's Broadchurch features well-drawn characters and will please fans of Ann Cleeves.

How to Dodge A Cannonball
by Dennard Dayle

Volunteering for the Union Army to escape his abusive mother, wily 15-year-old flag bearer Anders changes sides when he's captured. But after surviving the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg, the white teen passes as biracial and joins an all-Black Union regiment. Satirical and offbeat, this debut novel is "an American Candide...[and] channels the absurdity of Catch-22" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: The Good Lord Bird by James McBride.

Angel Down
by Daniel Kraus

After intense fighting in France's Argonne Forest during World War I, American Cyril Bagger is ordered along with four other misfits to "silence" the soldier stuck in No Man's Land producing unearthly screams -- but what they find is an injured angel wrapped in barbed wire, whom they agree to protect. Compelling and innovative in both structure and story, this is the buzzy latest by the author of Whalefall. Try this next: Chigozie Obioma's The Road to the Country.

These Summer Storms
by Sarah MacLean

After their patriarch's death, the Storm family gather at their New England island. There, they are introduced to Jack, their father's right-hand man and daughter Alice's recent one-night-stand, who says they must all complete individual tasks or no one inherits anything. Bestselling historical romance author Sarah MacLean delivers a fun contemporary family novel that'll please fans of HBO's Succession.

The Last Illusion of Paige White
by Vanessa McCausland

When influencer Paige White is found dead in a lake near her idyllic Australian home, her childhood friend Jane, now a Sydney journalist, returns to investigate. As Jane digs into Paige’s polished online life, long-buried secrets and past tragedies resurface in this haunting, slow-burn mystery about image, memory, and betrayal.

The Girls Who Grew Big
by Leila Mottley

In the Florida Panhandle, young mothers support each other amid upheavals while others judge and put obstacles in their paths. Three of them narrate: de facto leader Simone, a 20-year-old mother of twins who's pregnant again; newcomer Adela, a champion teen swimmer in Indiana who's been sent to live with her grandmother; and determined Emory, who brings her infant to high school with her. Read-alikes: Sarai Johnson's Grown Women; Brit Bennett's The Mothers.

A Murder for Miss Hortense
by Mel Pennant

In the suburbs of 1960s Birmingham, England, Jamaican immigrant Miss Hortense co-founded a cooperative group to lend money and solve crimes for people who were ignored by officials. Pushed out of the group in the 1970s, she's roped back in when a old member is murdered as a new millennium dawns. This debut novel from a British playwright introduces an appealing older sleuth and includes recipes. For fans of: Uzma Jalaluddin's Detective Aunty.

When Javi Dumped Mari
by Mia Sosa

In college, best friends Javier Báez and Marisol Campos promised they wouldn't date someone the other didn't approve of, until one night of passion between them torpedoed their relationship. Years later, Javier's finally ready to tell Marisol he loves her -- and then she introduces him to her fiancé, Alex. This feel-good homage to When Harry Met Sally and My Best Friend's Wedding will appeal to fans of Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell.

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame
by Neon Yang

Yeva, the masked guildknight, has a gift for slaying dragons. Now, she must travel to the kingdom of Quanbao where dragons are not slain, but revered, to kill a dragon for her emperor. As Yeva searches for the beast, she finds herself opening up to the kingdom -- and its queen, Lady Sookhee. This emotional and character-driven queer fantasy novella "will be a hit with fans of dragons and slow-burn romantasy" (Library Journal).

Adult Nonfiction

Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings
by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

National Book Award-nominated poet and novelist Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois) makes her genre-defying nonfiction debut with this unflinching and insightful essay collection exploring various crossroads Black women have faced throughout history. For fans of: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose by Alice Walker; Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry.

Their Accomplices Wore Robes: How the Supreme Court Chained Black America to the...
by Brando Simeo Starkey

Legal scholar Brando Simeo Starkey's (In Defense of Uncle Tom) richly detailed history explores the role the United States Supreme Court has played in the systemic oppression of Black people. Try this next: The Worst Trickster Story Ever Told: Native America, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Constitution by Keith Richotte, Jr.

Like : a history of the world's most hated (and misunderstood) word
by Megan C. Reynolds

"A comprehensive and thought-provoking investigation into one of the most polarizing words in the English language"

JFK: Public, Private, Secret
by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Kennedy family biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli follows up his bestselling Jackie: Public, Private, Secret with a nuanced and well-researched portrait of America's 35th president, drawing upon interviews and previously unpublished materials to focus on his personal relationships. For more on John F. Kennedy's political life, check out the works of Robert Dallek.

Youth Fiction

The rebel girls of Rome
by Jordyn Taylor

"Now: Grieving the loss of her mother, college student Lilah is hoping to reconnect with a grandfather who refuses to talk about his past. Then she receives a mysterious letter from a fellow student, Tommaso, claiming he's found a lost family heirloom, and her world is upended. Soon Lilah finds herself in Rome, trying to unlock her grandfather's history as a Holocaust survivor once and for all. But as she and Tommaso get closer to the truth--and their relationship begins to deepen into something sweeter--Lilah realizes that some secrets may be too painful to unbury... Then: It's 1943, and nineteen-year-old Bruna and her family are doing their best to survive in Rome's Jewish quarter under Nazi occupation. Until the dreaded knock comes early one morning, and Bruna is irrevocably separated from the rest of her family. Overcome with guilt at escaping her family's fate in the camps, she joins the underground rebellion. When her missions bring her back to her childhood crush, Elsa, Bruna must decide how much she's willing to risk--when fully embracing herself is her greatest act of resistance"

The Day the Books Disappeared
by Joanna Ho and Caroline Kusin Pritchard; illustrated by Dan Santat

Arnold can’t understand why his classmates bother reading books about anything besides the best topic: PLANES. Discovering that he can wish away all the other books, Arnold is delighted...until his beloved plane books disappear as well. Curiosity and empathy set things right in this "seamless mix of magic and relatable classroom drama" (Publishers Weekly).

Free period
by Ali Terese

Forced to join the school's Community Action Club, troublemaking best friends Helen and Gracie take over the club's campaign for maxi pads in bathrooms and soon find themselves closer to change and deeper in trouble than ever before, forcing them to make a difficult decision. Simultaneous eBook.

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