Reader's Choice Nominees January – April 2025 |
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Above the Fire
by Michael O'Donnell
Doug and his son set out on a backpacking trip through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When reports of warfare and social collapse reach the ranger station, they withdraw even further into the backcountry. Father and son must then endure the elements, the solitude, and the ever-present threat of outsiders.
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The Antique Hunter's Guide
to Murder
by C.L. Miller
Freya Lockwood returns to her quaint English hometown to find the truth about the death of her mentor, antiques dealer Arthur Crockleford. When following the clues leads to an old manor hosting an antiques enthusiast's weekend, Freya finds herself drawn back into the dangerous world of tracking stolen artifacts.
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At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities
by Heather Webber
Accepting a job as a live-in caretaker for an odd old man and his cranky cat, Ava moves to Alabama to start over. There she meets Maggie, owner of Magpie's, a coffee and curiosity shop, where there is magic to be found in pairing the old with the new.
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The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
Growing up as the only child of affluent and overprotective parents, Norma is troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. Searching for the truth leads her to the blueberry fields of Maine, where a family secret is finally revealed.
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The Deep Sky
by Yume Kitasei
When a lethal bomb knocks the The Phoenix, a ship carrying humanity's last hope, off course, Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect. With the crew turning on each other, she is determined to find the culprit before the bomber strikes again.
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Food, We Need to Talk
by Juna Gjata
An entertaining and fact-based exploration of diet, weight, and health that focuses on topics such as metabolism, fad diets, and medical interventions.
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The Framed Women of Ardemore House
by Brandy Schillace
After taking possession of a possibly haunted family estate in North Yorkshire, neurodivergent, hyperlexic book editor Jo Jones finds herself at the center of a murder investigation when the groundskeeper is found dead and a family portrait goes missing. To clear her name, she must unearth the town's and her own secrets.
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The Housekeepers
by Alex Hay
The night of London's grandest ball, a bold group of women downstairs plot a daring revenge heist against Mayfair society.
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I Hope This Finds You Well
by Natalie Sue
Admin Jolene accidentally gains access to her colleagues private emails and DMs. Trapped between petty revenge and a life-changing opportunity, Jolene navigates coworker drama, hidden secrets, and forbidden feelings to save her job.
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Last Call at the Local
by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
When a careless mistake in Ireland leaves her unable to perform, Rainie Hart, a free-spirited American singer-songwriter living with ADHD, starts working at a local pub where she helps her charming OCD employer, Jack Dunne, reinvent his business.
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No One Can Know
by Kate Alice Marshall
Emma Palmer has never told anyone what she saw the night her parents were murdered, even when she became the prime suspect in their deaths. Now a mother-to-be, Emma returns to the house and is reunited with her estranged sisters, who will do anything to keep the past buried.
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The Other Mothers
by Katherine Faulkner
Searching for a story to launch her career and new friends to help her navigate motherhood, Tash, welcomed into a circle of sleek, sophisticated mothers, discovers the kind of life she's always dreamed of until two murders make her wonder why she's been so quickly accepted into their exclusive world.
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The Painter's Daughters
by Emily Howes
The daughters of one of England's most famous portrait artists of the 1700s, Peggy and Molly Gainsborough are inseparable due to Molly's bouts of mental confusion. As Peggy goes to great lengths to protect her sister's secret, she falls in love with a charming composer, which sparks the bitterest of betrayals.
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The Penny Mansions
by Steven Mayfield
A former gold rush town is threatened with extinction via eminent domain should their population fall below 125 citizens. To save their homes, former madam Maude Dollarhyde, her mixed-race granddaughter, Bountiful, and their fellow council members agree to sell four abandoned mansions for a penny apiece if the buyers will stay in town long enough to be counted in the 1920 census.
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The Spellshop
by Sarah Beth Durst
When the Great Library of Alyssium goes up in flames, introverted librarian Kiela and her sentient spider plant flee to the faraway island of her childhood where she opens a spell shop to restore the island's power.
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The Tainted Cup
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Investigating a seemingly impossible death, detective Ana Dolabra, whose brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities, and her new magically altered assistant, Din, who is trying to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect, uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself.
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This Country
by Navied Mahdavian
Before Navied Mahdavian moved with his wife and dog from San Francisco to an off-the-grid cabin in rural Idaho, he had never fished, gardened, hiked, hunted, or lived in a snowy place. But there, he could own land, realize his dream of being an artist, and start a family. But beyond the boundaries of his six acres, he was confronted with the realities of America’s political shifts.
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This Spells Love
by Kate Robb
Casting a spell to erase her ex from her past, 28-year-old Gemma Wilde wakes up in an alternate reality where her best friend Dax has no idea who she is, and, seeking to reverse the spell, soon realizes he has been The One all along.
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UFO
by Garrett M. Graff
This story of science, the Cold War, Nazi research, atomic anxieties, secret spy planes, and the space race draws on original archival research, declassified documents, and interviews to present a narrative history of humanity's hunt for alien life, including the military and CIA's secret, decades-long quest to study UFOs.
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Where You End
by Abbott Kahler
Kat Bird awakens from a coma with no memory of who she is. With her twin sister Jude helping her rebuild her memory block by block, making her into the person she was before, Kat soon discovers everything is a lie.
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