E-Reader Positioned in Front of Bookshelf
 
Digital Highlights
 

New Year, New Reads
Happy 2026!
Non Fiction
Best Laid Plans: A Simple Planning System for Living a Life That You Love by Sarah Hart-Unger
Best Laid Plans: A Simple Planning System for Living a Life That You Love
by Sarah Hart-Unger

Stop running on auto-pilot and make the most of every day with intentional planning!Every moment matters when you have big goals for your family, career, and the community you're committed to. Between kids' schedules, work meetings, anniversary trips, the occasional date night, and squeezing in a quick gym session, it's easy to get overwhelmed! The constant barrage of obligations and to-dos is exhausting--especially for women who are also managing the mental load in most areas of family life. We end up stuck in routines and habits that don't serve us, as our dreams seem to slip further and further away.What if, instead of greeting each day in a scramble to keep up, there was a clearly laid out plan, complete with breathing room for rest and fun? In Best Laid Plans, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger offers an intuitive planning method for setting audacious goals, working with the natural rhythms of your life in every season, and bringing a sense of peace and joy back to every day. With Best Laid Plans, you'll learn: How to create and accomplish nested goals for every year, month, week, and dayThe magic of planning in seasonal quintiles, or five seasons instead of fourThe airtight task management method for handling all of those pesky to-dosHow to fill each day with meaningful moments of connection and delightDiscover a simple way to make the most of every day and live your best life.
The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo
The Sea Captain's Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at the Bottom of the World
by Tilar J. Mazzeo

Summer, 1856. Nineteen-year-old Mary Ann Patten and her husband Joshua were young and ambitious. Both from New England seafaring families, they had already completed their first clipper-ship voyage around the world with Joshua as captain. If they could win [a] race to San Francisco that year, their dream of building a farm and a family might be within reach. It would mean freedom. And the price of that freedom was one last dangerous transit--into the most treacherous waters in the world. As their ship, Neptune's Car, left New York Harbor and sailed down the jagged coast of South America, Joshua fell deathly ill and was confined to his bunk, delirious. ... With no obvious option for a new captain and heartbroken about her husband, Mary Ann stepped into the breach and convinced the crew to support her, just as they slammed into a gale that would last 18 days. ... Set against the backdrop of the California Gold Rush and taking us to the brink of Antarctica, [this book] finally gives Mary Ann Patten--the first woman to command a merchant vessel as captain--her due--
When All the Men Wore Hats: Susan Cheever on the Stories of John Cheever by Susan Cheever
When All the Men Wore Hats: Susan Cheever on the Stories of John Cheever
by Susan Cheever

A sympathetic and illuminating account of the stories of John Cheever, and the intersecting life and work of the legendary writer John Cheever, as told by his eldest daughter.The Stories of John Cheever, published in 1978, brought together some of the finest short fiction ever written. The collection was honored with the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and it would go on to sell millions of copies and to define the American short story and shape generations of writers. Cheever's chronicles of modern life both emerged from a distinctly American culture and also created it--inspiring everything from Mad Men to a Raymond Carver story, from rock songs to a Seinfeld episode.Growing up, Susan Cheever, John Cheever's eldest child and only daughter, read what he read, heard what he heard, bantered and gossiped with him and her brothers and mother at the dinner table, and later watched her father type on the cheap yellow paper he favored. A daughter much like Susan appears in many of Cheever's stories and a family much like theirs is at the center of his writing. In When All the Men Wore Hats, Susan Cheever looks back on her father's work and seeks to understand the connections between art and life. How did a bit of local gossip, a slice of Greek myth, and a new translation of Madame Bovary somehow become a brilliant gem like The Country Husband or The Swimmer? In her 1984 book Home Before Dark, published two years after her father's death, Cheever wrote movingly about her father and the secrets he kept, but here, years later, she tells the story of the remarkable stories themselves, six of which appear in full in the book's appendix.
Fiction
The Odds of You by Kate Dramis
The Odds of You
by Kate Dramis

DELUXE LIMITED EDITION--featuring beautiful stenciled edges!Once is chance. Twice is fate. This book made me remember why I fell in love with reading. - B. Celeste Sage Collins knows a thing or two about odds. A year ago, she was a data analyst until she burned it all down to pursue her dream of becoming an author. One whirlwind bestseller and a struggling second book later, and Sage isn't sure she'll ever write a novel again. But then an accidental encounter with an irritating passenger on the flight to Comic Con leaves Sage in an untested position. That passenger is Theo Sharpe: a breakout actor on the cusp of fame. And, unfortunately, the paparazzi have mistaken her for his girlfriend. Armed with signature British charm and a smile that could tame oceans, Theo wears fame like a well-fit coat...though Sage can see there's something deeper held in his eyes. But his fans are too involved in the drama, the pressure to deliver the next bestseller is on, and Sage and Theo both must agree there's nothing between them. They don't have to acknowledge that saying it doesn't make it true. When Sage decides to flee to Scotland to clear her head and write her novel, she expects to find fresh air and the stillness to think. What she doesn't expect is Theo Sharpe to come back into her life...and how he may be her greatest miscalculation of all. An emotionally-charged novel in the vein of Ashley Poston and Yulin Kuang, The Odds of You is a smart and sexy first contemporary novel from bestselling romantasy author Kate Dramis. A raw and poignant love story. - Tarah DeWitt
Private Rome: A Private Novel by James Patterson
Private Rome: A Private Novel
by James Patterson

This thrilling addition to the bestselling Private series transports readers inside the halls of the Vatican itself when a priest is murdered--and the new lead agent at Private is the number one suspect. Jack Morgan, ex-Marine helicopter pilot and CIA agent, is in Italy to open the latest outpost of his international private investigation firm. Its wealthy client base demands maximum force and maximum discretion. But when a priest is murdered at the firm's opening party, Morgan and Matteo Ricci--a decorated former Rome police inspector, now Morgan's newly appointed deputy--come under intense scrutiny. As Morgan and Ricci work the case, they discover that eight priests have died, all under watch of the Swiss Guard and the Vatican Police. Private relies on the world's most advanced forensic tools to make and break cases. This one rests on breaking the secret hold of the Holy See's all-powerful, all knowing inner circle.
The Shop on Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz
The Shop on Hidden Lane
by Jayne Ann Krentz

New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz dives into an enthralling new romantic suspense novel filled with deeply entrenched grudges, psychic dangers, and a conspiracy that threatens not only two families but also the entire paranormal community. The Harper and the Wells families have regarded each other with deep suspicion for four generations. The Harpers have been known to offer their psychic talents for less-than-legal purposes, and the powerful Wells clan has a reputation for playing both sides of the street. But for all the years of history and distrust between them, there is a mysterious pact binding the two. They share the responsibility for protecting a long-buried and very dangerous secret. Sophy Harper and Luke Wells are shocked to learn that her aunt and his uncle have been sleeping together--and now they are both missing. Not only that, but the last traces of them are at the scene of a murder soaked in negative paranormal energy. Clearly, someone is willing to kill to obtain the secret their families have been charged with protecting. Despite their mutual distrust, which, as far as Sophy is concerned extends to Luke's hellhound of a dog, they both know that the terms of the pact must be honored. Their investigation uncovers a psychic trail leading to a bizarre desert art colony where nothing is as it seems. But Luke and Sophy are concealing a few secrets, too. By a strange twist of fate, a Harper and a Wells have no choice but to trust each other and the fierce attraction that is binding them as surely as the pact between the families.
Music
     Stranger Things               Top Songs of 2025
The Ocean City Free Public Library
1735 Simpson Ave.
Ocean City, New Jersey 08226
(609) 399-2434

https://www.oceancitylibrary.org/