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Reading Roundup
November 2025 |
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Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop
by Mai Mochizuki
From a bestselling Japanese author, this charming Christmas novel follows three women at a crossroads who, with the help of an enchanted Kyoto coffee shop run by magical cats, find the courage to confront their pasts and seek happiness.
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Days at the Torunka Cafâe : a novel
by Satoshi Yagisawa
"Tucked away on a narrow side street in Tokyo is the Torunka Cafâe, a neighborhood nook where the passersby are as likely to be local cats as tourists. Its regulars include Chinatsu Yukimura, a mysterious young woman who always leaves behind a napkin folded into the shape of a ballerina; Hiroyuki Yumata, a middle-aged man who's returned to the neighborhood searching for the happy life he once gave up; and Shizuku, the cafâe owner's teenage daughter, who is still coming to terms with her sister's death asshe falls in love for the first time."-- Provided by publisher
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The forget-me-not library
by Heather S. Webber
"A detour. A chance encounter. Two women who alter the pages of each other's story. Juliet Nightingale is lucky to be alive. Months after a freak accident involving lightning, she's fully recovered but is left feeling that something is missing from her life. Something big. Impulsively, she decides to take a solo summer road trip, hoping that the journey will lead her down a path that will help her discover exactly what it is that she's searching for. Newly single mom Tallulah Byrd Mayfield is hanging by a thread after her neat, tidy world was completely undone when her husband decided that their marriage was over. In the aftermath of the breakup, she and her two daughters move in with her eighty-year-old grandfather. Tallulah starts a new job at the Forget-Me-Not Library, where old, treasured memories can be found within the books-and where Lu must learn to adapt to the many changes thrown her way. When a road detour leads Juliet to Forget-Me-Not, Alabama, and straight into Tallulah's life, the two womensoon discover there's magic in between the pages of where you've been and where you still need to go. And that happiness, even when lost, can always be found again"-- Provided by publisher
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Minor Black Figures
by Brandon Taylor
From a Booker Prize finalist and bestselling author comes a novel about a gay Black painter navigating the worlds of art, desire and creativity.
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Queen Esther
by John Irving
Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board the ship to Portland, Maine; her mother is murdered by anti-Semites in Portland. Dr. Larch knows it won't be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; in fact, he won't find any family who'll adopt her. When Esther is fourteen, soon to be a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic New England family with a history of providing foster care for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren't Jewish, but they despise anti-Semitism. Esther's gratitude for the Winslows is unending; even as she retraces her roots back to Vienna, she never stops loving and protecting the Winslows.
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Some Bright Nowhere
by Ann Packer
A bestselling author returns with her first novel in over a decade, an intimate look at a long marriage and the ways in which a startling request can change a couple's understanding of who they are, together and apart.
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Christine's Library Journal Reviews
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A Sea View Christmas : An on Devonshire Shores Novella
by Julie Klassen
This review by librarian Christine Barth was published in the September 2025 issue of Library Journal.
Readers looking for a charming Christmas story set in the time of Pride and Prejudice will want to pick up the latest by Klassen (The Seaside Homecoming), an addition to her "On Devonshire Shores" historical Christian fiction series.
Sisterly love is the star of this Regency book in which the sensible and ever-busy Sarah wonders if she has lost her chance at love forever. She promised her sisters that this Christmas the family's Devonshire boarding house will be full of good food and great company, since the Summers family has mostly recovered from their father's crushing debts.
But when Scotsman Callum Henshall comes back into town, Sarah's holiday preparations are upended. Meanwhile, tomboy Georgiana, the baby of the family, discovers that she might be ready for a courtship of her own, if only she can find a man who appreciates her unique gifts.
VERDICT: Readers will catch up with favorite "On Devonshire Shores" characters and continue to enjoy Klassen's eye for fascinating historical details in this series companion. For historical Christmas read-alikes, suggest Christmas at Sugar Plum Manor by Roseanna M. White or the novella compilation Joy to the World: a Regency Christmas collection.
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Echoes of a Silent Song
by Wen, Amanda
This review by librarian Christine Barth was first published in the September 2025 issue of Library Journal.
Callum Knight is too young to be a washed-up composer, but ever since a personal tragedy during the pandemic, he has not written a single note. Unenthusiastically setting up a backup plan, he becomes the new choir director at Peterson High School in Illinois, where he'll work with accompanist Blair Emerson. For her part, Blair doesn't know if she can work in harmony with yet another new choir director who won't last the year. However, she and Callum hit off, and she thinks her mentor Vic Nelson, an accomplished composer in his own right, could provide the key to unlocking Callum's block.
When Callum and Blair discover an unpublished piece of musical genius in the school's archives, they delve into the 50-year-old mystery of prodigy Iris Wallingford, who died by suicide before graduating high school; Nelson may hold the key to that intrigue as well.
VERDICT: Wen ("Sedgwick County Chronicles") plays the narrative's parallel timelines perfectly, and readers will be drawn in from the first few notes, with a dramatic crescendo showing that, despite unexpected tragedy, God is still working. The novel's depiction of mental illness is sensitively handled.
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The women of Oak Ridge
by Michelle Shocklee
This review by librarian Christine Barth was first published in the September 2025 issue of Library Journal.
PhD candidate Laurel Willet grew up visiting her Aunt Mae in Oak Ridge, TN, but it's not until the 1970s that she realizes Oak Ridge was the Secret City, one of the main atomic production sites for the Manhattan Project during World War II.
Aunt Mae worked in the Secret City, but its secrets haven't escaped her lips in 37 years. In fact, she wasn't supposed to know what she was doing or why she was doing it back then; any job was welcome after the horrors of the Great Depression. When Laurel shows up asking questions, hoping to develop her psychological research on the effects of keeping a secret with worldwide ramifications, Mae's unwelcome memories come flooding back. As Laurel and local copy Jonas Tyson start searching the archives, they discover that Aunt Mae might be hiding more than just atomic mysteries.
VERDICT: Shocklee (All We Thought We Knew) highlights the unsung historical contributions of women while spinning a top-notch cold case detective story. Every Shocklee book is a learning opportunity for those who love U.S. history and a sure bet for library shelves.
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The Scarlet Ribbon
by Stephens, Naomi
As the Revolutionary War unfurls around her, Rebekah Stanton is abandoned by the man who once claimed to love her. Shunned by her father and forced to give up her child, she finds herself thrust into prostitution at the local boarding house. When the British seize control of the nearby fort, she gives little thought to the officers who frequent the boarding house. Men are men regardless of the color of their uniform...or so she believes. But then a young man-a Patriot spy named Benjamin Renshaw-stumbles upon her in the darkness, and she saves him from a group of pursuing Redcoats. With an attack on the fort brewing in the background and the father of her child returned to serve with the British, Rebekah is torn between old dreams and new hope, struggling all the while to find peace and forgiveness in a place of rising conflict.
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Through each tomorrow
by Gabrielle Meyer
"In 1883, time-crosser Charles Hollingsworth enters elite circles entwined with intrigue, unsure which path he will choose on his twenty-fifth birthday. In 1563, Lady Cecily Pembrooke serves Queen Elizabeth while her stepbrother Charles seeks to save theailing monarch. As their futures hang by a thread and secrets unravel, are their destinies inescapable?"-- Provided by publisher
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The Bookshop Below
by Georgia Summers
If you want a story that will change your life, Chiron's bookshop is where you go. For those lucky enough to grace its doors, it's a glimpse into a world of powerful bargains and deadly ink magic.
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Brigands & breadknives
by Travis Baldree
"Foul-mouthed bookseller Fern Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller's life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend's coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her! If only things were so simple... It turns out that fixing your life isn't a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint. A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover. As together they fend off a rogue's gallery of ne'er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when nothing seems inevitable"-- Provided by publisher
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Mystery, Adventure, Thriller
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59 Minutes
by Holly Seddon
"Internationally bestselling author Holly Seddon debuts in the US for the first time with this unmissable, riveting, and heart-wrenching 'what would you do' thriller- perfect for fans of Mary Kubica and Gillian McAllister"
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The Burning Library
by Gilly Macmillan
Eleanor Bruton's body is discovered on the shore. To her family Eleanor was an ordinary middle-aged woman. She did flower arrangements and plumped kneeler cushions at church. Little did they know she was harboring a dark and all-consuming secret. A scrap of fraying embroidery that seems worthless at first glance. For over a century, two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn. The Order of St Katherine: devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And the Fellowship of the Larks: determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible...so long as their methods of doing so never come to light. When Dr. Anya Brown garners international attention for her translation of the cryptic Folio 9, she is handpicked by Diana Cornish, a professor and high-ranking member of the Fellowship, to join the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies in St Andrews. Unbeknownst to Anya she's been recruited at great personal danger to translate ancient texts that the Fellowship believes critical to their mission. Meanwhile at Scotland Yard, Detective Clio Spicer begins a private investigation into the death of Eleanor Bruton. As all of them grow further entangled in this ancient web, circumstances are spinning wildly out of control and their lives may be in grave danger.
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An academic affair
by Jodi McAlister
"Two English professors enter a fake marriage in order to secure partner hire, but soon realize their feelings for each other aren't as fake as they'd once thought"
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And then there was you : a novel
by Sophie Cousens
"At thirty-one, Chloe Fairway isn't where she wants to be in life. Stuck in a PA job for a boss who barely notices her and back home with her parents after a painful breakup, she feels like a failure. So, when she's invited to her college's ten-year reunion, the last thing she needs is to face the people who once voted her "most likely to succeed." She definitely doesn't want to see her former best friend Sean Adler, now a hotshot film director living the life Chloe dreamed of. Desperate to make a splash-and to save face in front of the man who might be the one that got away-she turns to a mysterious dating service. Enter Rob, her handsome, successful, and charming match, who quickly makes Chloe feel like she's finally finding her way. But as Chloe digs deeper into her past and reconnects with old friends, she begins to question if Rob is really all that he seems."-- Provided by publisher
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The Hong Kong widow
by Kristen Loesch
In 1950s Hong Kong, refugee Mei enters a deadly séance competition in a haunted mansion to seek revenge against the man who ruined her life, but decades later, the horrors of that final night return, demanding she confront what truly happened.
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The mad wife
by Meagan Church
"In the 1950s, nothing is valued more than conformity, and Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the ideal housewife. But after the birth of her daughter, Lulu's carefully constructed life begins to teeter. Exhausted by expectations and haunted by tragic memories, Lulu looks to her new neighbor, Bitsy. Bitsy, always the model of a perfect housewife, is not quite what she seems and Lulu knows something dark lurks beneath Bitsy's constant smile. Increasingly fixated on Bitsy and her perfectly crafted life, Lulu's mental state begins to fracture, and memories she had suppressed long ago begin to rise to the surface. Soon, Lulu is forced to confront the possibility that she might be headed down a path much darker than she could ever foresee. Set against the backdrop of a post-war era defined by tradition and constrained femininity, The Mad Wife weaves together a coming-of-age search for identity with a psychological drama so poignant, you won't be able to put it down"
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The Wildest Dreams Bookshop
by Gracie Page
Seventeen-year-old Anna's summer is not off to a good start. She's pretty sure she's flunked her exams, and her boyfriend, Max, has unceremoniously dumped her.
So when her aunt invites her to come work and live at her seaside bookshop, Anna takes her up on the offer--what other choice does she have? At least there she can hide out, maybe get her mess of a life back on track without the distractions of everyone she knows.
But there are plenty of other kinds of distractions in this sleepy little town: the infuriatingly hot local surfer who keeps crossing her path, for instance, plus the celebrity book launch Anna unwittingly agrees to host at the bookshop.
It might not be any less messy than her real life, but this summer is going to be anything but boring!
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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