|
|
Must-Read Books April 2025 |
|
|
|
|
| Promise Me Sunshine by Cara BastoneGrief-stricken after the death of her best friend, Brooklyn nanny Helen "Lenny" Bellamy strikes up an unlikely friendship with her charge's protective uncle, Miles, who has his own experiences with loss. As the pair try to make their way through Lenny's "Live Again" list, they discover they just might be what the other needs to move on. Try this next: Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez. |
|
|
|
The divorce : a novel
by Moa Herngren
A decades-long, seemingly rock-solid marriage suddenly falls apart during one hot Stockholm summer.
|
|
| The Quiet Librarian by Allen EskensIn Minnesota, librarian Hana Babic, once the feared Bosnian fighter Night Mora, is forced to confront her past when her best friend Amina is murdered. To protect Amina’s grandson, she must unravel a deadly mystery tied to war-torn Bosnia, facing relentless enemies while balancing justice, survival, and the weight of her past. |
|
| Life Hacks for a Little Alien by Alice FranklinAn undiagnosed neurodivergent girl grows up in southeast England feeling like a misfit. At 12, she learns of the Voynich manuscript, which at least one scholar suggests was made by aliens. Obsessed, she and her only friend sneak off to London to view it, worrying her already mentally fragile mom. Told in second person, this witty, moving debut is for fans of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form and Emptiness. |
|
| Theft by Abdulrazak GurnahThis acclaimed latest from 2021 Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah follows three interlinked young people navigating uncertain futures in Tanzania: Karim, whose mother left his abusive father when he was three; beautiful Fauzia, who'd been sick as a child; and Badar, who was sent to work as a servant boy in his uncle's household. "Gurnah is at the top of his game," raves Publishers Weekly. |
|
| Back After This by Linda HolmesWhen she half-heartedly agrees to host a show about her dating life, podcast producer Cecily Foster is tasked with going on 20 blind dates set up for her by relationship coach Eliza Cassidy. But she keeps running into cute waiter Will on her dates, with whom she shares an instant spark of attraction. Is she falling for the wrong guy -- or making the right choice? For fans of: How to Get a Life in Ten Dates by Jenny L. Howe. |
|
|
|
Killer potential : a novel
by Hannah Deitch
Discovering a brutal murder at her wealthy clients' home, scholarship student Evie becomes a fugitive with a mysterious woman, embarking on a cross-country journey to clear her name and uncover the real killer amidst national media frenzy. 100,000 first printing.
|
|
| The Four Queens of Crime by Rosanne LimoncelliIn 1938 England, mystery writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh plan a fundraiser as rumors of war increase. When their aristocratic host is killed, they work with DCI Lilian Wyles to close the case in this debut, a "note-perfect Golden Age pastiche" (Publishers Weekly). Read-alikes: Marie Benedict's The Queens of Crime; Colleen Cambridge's Phyllida Bright mysteries. |
|
| Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher MurrayIn 1919, Jessie Redmon Fauset becomes the first Black woman literary editor of The Crisis magazine, putting her at the forefront of Harlem's cultural renaissance, where she discovers talents such as Langston Hughes and Nella Larsen. But her ambitions and a secret affair with W.E.B. Du Bois threaten it all. Try these next: Piper Huguley's By Her Own Design; Tia Williams' A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. |
|
|
|
Fan service
by Rosie Danan
Small-town outcast Alex Lawson, an expert in werewolf lore, reluctantly teams up with a disgraced TV star, Devin Ashwood, to help unravel his sudden transformation under a Wolf Blood Moon, sparking unexpected chemistry and danger. Original.
|
|
| Kills Well with Others by Deanna RaybournWhen a mole in the elite assassin organization the Museum leaks names to an Eastern European gangster who's murdering agents, assassins Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie -- senior in status and age -- must root out the organization's mole and hunt down their new nemesis. |
|
| Listen to Your Sister by Neena VielTwenty-five year-old Calla has recurring nightmares in which her younger brothers Dre and Jamie violently die. When Jamie runs afoul of a police officer at a protest, the trio flee to a remote cabin, where Calla's nightmares become horrifyingly real. Try this next: Model Home by Rivers Solomon. |
|
| The Riveter by Jack WangBarred from military service in 1942 due to his race, Chinese Canadian Josiah Chang works in a Vancouver shipyard where he meets white Poppy Miller, but her parents take exception to their relationship. Trying to prove himself, Josiah goes to Toronto, where he's allowed to join the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion headed to Europe. Read-alikes: Adriana Allegri's The Sunflower House; Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. |
|
|
|
Everybody says it's everything : a novel
by Xhenet Aliu
Estranged in adulthood, adopted twins Drita and Pete are drawn together by Pete's young son, leading Drita on a journey to uncover their Albanian roots, the truth about their adoption and the chance to rebuild their fractured family.
|
|
|
|
Jane Austen's bookshelf : a rare book collector's quest to find the women writers who shaped a legend
by Rebecca Romney
"Jane Austen's Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen's heroes-women writers who were erased from the Western canon-to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth-and recounts Romney's experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen's. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen's bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austen's Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels"
|
|
| The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second... by Kevin FaganAward-winning San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan's moving and intimate social history explores homelessness through the experiences of a pair of individuals trying to get by in San Francisco, California. Further reading: Seeking Shelter: A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America by Jeff Hobbs. |
|
| Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America by Russell ShortoDrawing on never-before-seen archival materials, bestselling author Russell Shorto's (The Island at the Center of the World) lively social history explores the early days of New York City, from its 1626 purchase by the Dutch to its capture by the English four decades later. For fans of: The Village: 400 Years of Beats and Bohemians, Radicals and Rogues, a History of Greenwich Village by John Strausbaugh. |
|
|
|
Made for more
by Chloe Ito Ward
A narrator defies narrow beauty standards to embrace the skin she's in and her life on the island of Kaua'i, in an exploration of immigration that pays tribute to the identity formed by a girl's Japanese roots and Hawaiian upbringing. Illustrations.
|
|
| Papilio by Ben Clanton, Corey R. Tabor, and Andy Chou MusserIn this charming, fact-filled story, three creators take turns showing readers the stages of a black swallowtail's life, from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Each stage has its own style, but sweetness, humor, and solid information persist throughout. "Move aside, Very Hungry Caterpillar," declares Kirkus Reviews. |
|
|
|
Bear out there
by Jacob Grant
Bear and Spider from Bear's Scare reunite in an outdoor adventure of friendship that finds Bear emerging from his cozy den to help Spider get a stuck kite out of a tree, an effort that proves unexpectedly troublesome
|
|
| The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. TaylorBecause Maeve’s father famously unleashed horror with writing-based magic, she keeps a low profile, living under a fake name. An anonymous letter claiming her father’s innocence prompts her to learn the arcane magic for herself and uncover the truth. This fantasy mystery infuses a slow-burn romance with dark academia vibes. |
|
Contact your librarian for more great books!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|