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The summer of you and me
by Denise Hunter
Maggie Reynolds is finally ready for love again, until the past shows up in the form of someone who may or may not be the late husband she thought she'd lost. Five years after her husband's death, Maggie is finally ready to let go of him and the dreams she had for their future. A summer at Seabrook, where she and Ethan first became childhood sweethearts, seems the perfect time and place to find closure. Plus, she gets to spend time with his family, the Reynoldses, whom she loves like her own. Unbeknownst to Maggie, her brother-in-law, Josh Reynolds, has been in love with her since they first met all those years ago. But his brother ultimately won Maggie's heart, and Josh's unrequited love has ruined all his relationships. If Maggie is ready to move on, then Josh is ready to lay it all on the line and come clean about his true feelings for her. But his plans soon get put on hold when, shortly after Maggie returns to Seabrook, she runs into a man who could pass for Ethan's twin. But he disappears into the amusement park crowd before she can confront him. The event rattles Maggie, stirs up impossible questions, and sends Josh and her on a quest to discover the man's true identity. But their search ends up raising more questions than answers, and soon Maggie isn't sure she wants those answers after all.
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I know how this ends
by Holly Smale
Margot Wayward is in manically gleeful self-destruct mode. Following the implosion of a ten-year relationship, she’s willfully derailing her successful career, joyfully taking down men on dating apps, and living in total chaos. Until one day, when Margot has a vision of herself with a man she’s never met before. She doesn’t believe in fate. But when Margot meets single-dad Henry, the vision comes true: exactly as she’d foreseen it. As her future continues to reveal itself, a glimpse at a time, Margot realizes she knows exactly what’s going to happen, and when. And there’s nothing she can do to change any of it. So Margot has to decide how to live, how to love again, and how to be herself. Because if you can’t change your destiny, how on earth do you live your present?
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| Wrath of the Dragons by Olivia Rose DarlingCayden Veles, renowned Demon Commander of Vareveth, overthrew the throne to save Elowen Atarah, the woman he searched for since childhood. Now he’s determined to fulfill his quest for revenge against her father, even if it means forcing the only person he''s ever wanted into a marriage of political convenience. Elowen Atarah has everything she thought she’d ever want. Finally reunited with her dragons, she now has an army to enact vengeance, but as events transpire, she begins contemplating if she wants more. As her father’s only living heir, the Imirath throne is her right and destiny. But fighting and winning a war will require trusting Cayden Veles, her partner in crime and now king to her queen; the man she both longs for and doubts, especially after opening her heart only to become a pawn in his game. Navigating the shifting allegiances amongst all the kingdoms of Ravaryn will require all their strategy and strength, with devastating and bloody attacks on one side and cutthroat diplomacy for alliances on the other. But Elowen and Cayden must find a way to stand strong within the power they’ve gained, or risk losing everything. |
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| Only Lovers in the Building by Nadine GonzalezAfter her legal career comes to a sudden and humiliating end, Liliane Lyon books a restorative summer rental at The Icon, a quintessential Art Deco building in Miami Beach, where her only plan is to bask in the sun, read, and sip cocktails. But soon she’s enchanted by the colorful community, including university professor Benedicto Romero, resident tortured poet, whose sole intention for sabbatical is to indulge in brooding introspection. When they discover a shared passion for romance novels, Lily and Ben are soon spending hours reading together by the pool, the spark between them unwittingly giving the other residents the impression that they’re experts in matters of the heart…no matter that IRL their disastrous love lives bear little resemblance to the stories they’re reading. But while Ben and Lily can pinpoint a trope a mile away and give excellent advice to others, they can’t make sense of the sizzling chemistry between them, and the suggestion of a professional podcast suddenly forces them to consider the long-term. So what if it means working even closer together! So what if their banter makes Lily's head spin! It’s the summer of taking chances, but a word to the wise: Miami isn’t the place for growth and rebirth. It’s the place to get messy. |
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The incredible kindness of paper : a novel
by Evelyn Skye
Can one random act of kindness change the trajectory of a life? In elementary school, Chloe Hanako Quinn is assigned Oliver Jones as her pen pal partner. Before sending her letter, she also whispers a note into it…and he hears her. Little does she know it would be the beginning of a friendship that would bloom into something more. That is, until disaster strikes, and Oliver and his family disappear without a trace. Now over twenty years later, Chloe is a high school guidance counselor in New York City. But life in the Big Apple is not what she dreamed it would be as she faces a layoff, rising rent, a situationship, and loneliness. Desperate for encouragement, she gives herself a pep talk via uplifting messages written on yellow origami paper that she folds into roses. When one of the roses unexpectedly finds its way to a neighbor in need of cheering up, a desire to spread kindness and optimism is sparked in Chloe, who begins folding more roses and leaving them around town. Across the city, Oliver has picked himself up from the rough circumstances that forced him to leave everything behind as a teenager, including Chloe. Now a successful financial analyst, Oliver’s past continues to haunt him. But when the city is suddenly inundated with yellow origami roses, a specific one finds its way into his hands and changes his life forever
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The violet hour : a Lowcountry tale
by Victoria Benton Frank
Violet Adams is the perfect, youngest child in a family of loud, passionate women on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. As the sweet, traditional one, she’s always been the steady hand in her family but after a sudden breakup and subsequent tragedy, she doesn’t know who she is anymore. Aly Knox, Violet’s best friend, is a young influencer still struggling with the loss of her mother and adjusting to joining Violet in Southern living. With her best friend’s help, Violet is determined to break out of her shell, and who she thought she was, no matter what. And what better place to look for success, meaning, and possibly love than the Lowcountry of South Carolina?
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These summer storms : a novel
by Sarah MacLean
Alice Storm isn't like her siblings. While the rest stayed to battle for their parents' approval, and their billions, she walked away, building a life beyond her family's reach. Nothing could induce her to come back. Nothing except the shocking death of her father. Now back on the family's private island off the Rhode Island coast, she plans to keep her head down, pay the last of her respects, and leave. But her father had other plans. The manipulative patriarch left behind a final challenge: an inheritance game designed to unravel the Storm family in ways both petty and life-altering. The rules are simple: stay on the island for one week, complete the tasks, receive the inheritance. But a week on Storm Island may destroy Alice. The family home seethes with dysfunction, and then there's Jack Dean, her father's infuriatingly attractive second-in-command, watching her every move. Alice just wants to survive the week. But the Storm legacy isn't done with her yet.
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Never been shipped
by Alicia Thompson
Micah's relationship to music is complicated. As teenagers, her band took off after being featured on a popular TV show, but the group barely released their sophomore album before breaking up. Now, over a decade later, the band is reuniting for one more performance on a themed cruise, and Micah is determined to learn from her past mistakes, no losing herself in the music, and no losing her heart along the way. John misses playing in a band, and mostly he misses Micah, who'd been his best friend until the music stopped. Back then, he didn't take the lead, either in his guitar parts or while he sat back and watched her date another bandmate. John's never been one to rock the boat, but he's faced with another chance now that this cruise has brought music, and Micah, back in his life. Onboard, Micah can't help but see John with brand new eyes, and John's feelings only intensify as the discordant band's tension grows to a breaking point. With five days at sea, there's a ticking clock on anything that might develop between them, and they'll have to decide if their relationship is destined to be more than a one-hit wonder.
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Friends to Lovers
by Sally Blakely
Best friends Joni and Ren have been inseparable since childhood. So when Joni moves across the country for her job, the two devise a creative way to stay in touch: they’ll be each other’s plus-ones every year for wedding season, no matter what else is happening in their lives. It’s a tradition that works, until a line is crossed and the friendship they once thought was forever is ruined. Now Joni is back at their families’ shared summer home for her sister’s wedding, and she’s determined to make the week perfect, even if it means faking a friendship with Ren, and avoiding the truth of why they have to fake it in the first place. How hard can it be to pretend to be friends with the person who once knew you best? But as sunny beach days together turn into starry nights, Joni begins to question what her life is without Ren in it. And when the wedding arrives, bringing past heartaches to the surface, she’ll be forced to decide if loving Ren means letting him go, or if theirs is a love story worth fighting for.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Albert Lea Public Library
211 E Clark St.
Albert Lea, Minnesota 56007
(507) 377-4350alplonline.org |
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